Senator Bob Carr: The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question: At the time of the 2009 Defence White paper, and at the Senate Estimates hearing on Wednesday 3 June 2009, Defence outlined that the estimated overall cost of buying the capability outlined in the White Paper would be between $245-$275 billion out to 2030. However, this has been revised down to approximately $200-$230 billion out to 2030 due to the appreciation of the Australian Dollar against the US Dollar.