Mr BURNELL: I think it should be pointed out on Hansard , for clarity, that neither the current Australian government nor the opposition have indicated any desire to have nuclear weapons. The proposal has consistently been for conventional armaments onboard the proposed nuclear-propulsion submarines. That leads to me to my last question. When we look at Australian workplaces, we look at having the

Senator WONG: No. That's not true, because they're withdrawn each two years—unless you extend them—in 2042, 2046 and 2048. So we get this diminishing fleet of submarines and we don't know if we've got the new nuclear submarine capability. Vice Adm. Noonan : As Vice Admiral Mead has described, we are working towards a time frame—

Senator WONG: Let's not get into it. I don't want to go back into the weeds here. I'm a layperson. I don't know as much about submarines as you. It just seems to me that it's one thing to refurbish existing parts. It's another thing to replace. I would have assumed that both the volume and the risk profile of the latter—that is, new parts being put in—would be higher. Mr Sammut : I'm not saying th

Senator LAMBIE: So what you're saying is that, unlike previously when we purchased the submarines from the US, we won't go through the same situation where they are already full of rust and of very little use? The US is having itself. If I may table some pictures here, Chair. They are just pictures of submarines. They come straight off the internet. They are not anything official. I'm just wonderi

Senator WONG: That's fine. So there will be 250 to 300 submarines in the Indo-Pacific region by 2035. Remind me: how many Attack class submarines will we have in the water then? Vice Adm. Noonan : In 2035 the first of the Attack class submarines will be delivered.

Senator LAMBIE: Hang on! You gave evidence to Senator Wong last year that you were spending $300 million to put the details of the program in place, so— Vice Adm. Mead : The $300 million was the money allocated to the Nuclear Powered Submarine Task Force for an 18-month period, so that we could conduct our activities. I understand your question. We are working with the US. We're doing a lot of dis

Ms MASCARENHAS: I want to have a look at this from a safety regulations perspective. I'd say that this is absolutely a new area. We've had nuclear medicine in Australia for a long time. This is a different application from a nuclear perspective. I know that in your submissions there's concern about the existing radiation safety program, so one of my questions is: what would the best regulation env

Senator WONG: Can you provide any explanation of why someone—he's a well-known journalist in this area; he writes a lot on defence, he has a lot of contacts and he's been following this particular submarine saga for some time—would be saying that to you? Is there any basis— CHAIR: That is—

Senator PATERSON: Andrew Greene and Stephen Dziedzic from the ABC reported this morning that military officials believe it's likely the task group is being accompanied by a nuclear submarine. Does Defence have a view on whether that's likely or not? Adm. Johnston : I don't know whether there is a submarine with them. It is possible. Task groups occasionally do deploy with submarines, but not alway

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: You know one of the most remarkable things about the most recent congressional research service report on the submarines is that there's no contribution from the US Navy. They haven't gone on record or indicated in any way their support for the provision of nuclear submarines to Australia. It's a very unusual thing. There's no contribution at all from the US Navy indicating the

Senator WONG: Sure. So in 2035 we're basically still reliant on submarines which Kim Beazley commissioned. That's 1996. Mr Sammut : And submarines that have been updated throughout their service life and undergone a life-of-type extension.

Senator LAMBIE: Thank you, Chair. I've got some questions on submarines for Vice Admiral Mead and for Vice Admiral Hammond, if I may. I just want to go into the first Virginia class submarine that went into service almost 20 years ago in 2004. I understand there have been a number of different variants with different capabilities. I think they are referred to as blocks: block 1 to block 5. Can you

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: Can we just stop at each of these and get a sense of their quantum. HMAS Stirling is the nuclear submarine base just off Perth. How much— Vice Adm. Mead : Can I just clarify. It is our current Navy base down off Rockingham that accommodates Collins class submarines, surface ships and tankers. It is not our nuclear base at the moment. It is where, though, SRF-West will operate f

Mr HASTIE ( Canning ) ( 12:17 ): I thank the minister for his statement. Let me begin where he ended, in highlighting the uplift in capability that our future conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines will give the Royal Australian Navy. The Virginia class submarines and our future SSN-AUKUS, complete with the same vertical missile system, combat system, torpedos and sealed reactor, will giv

Ms CLUTTERHAM: Thank you very much. That was an extensive answer. I will read the transcript of that answer! I have one more question. I noted in the summary of your submission reference to five Virginia class submarines and the need to procure those given the long lead times with SSN-AUKUS. I just wondered what your thoughts were. My sense is that you don't think that the LOTE program with respec

Senator WONG: I suspect we may come back to submarines, but not right now. Mr Sammut : I wouldn't be surprised if we did, Senator. I look forward to it.

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: You're building a facility which is going to have multiple US nuclear submarines coming and going. Surely the government did its homework and looked at the example of the USS Houston , which was leaking radioactive waste for months and months while on patrol, contaminating, amongst other places, Japanese territorial waters and the Japanese base where it was docked. Did the gove

Senator WONG: Sure. Senator Birmingham: I would just put that caution on record there. Equally, as officials have said, from an Australian perspective there was certainly a need to go through the processes, to ascertain a sufficient level of confidence around the nuclear powered submarine option prior to making the final decision to withdraw from proceeding with the Attack class.

Senator WONG: But that's not the last bit, is it? Mr Sammut : Once it's handed over to Navy for operational test and evaluation, it will be progressively released for various operations once it completes the tests and evaluation that pertain to those particular operations. So you can imagine the submarine has a number of roles.

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: I'm going to ask some questions about the US's SLCM-Ns—sea-launched cruise missiles which have nuclear capability. ABC's Four Corners interviewed Decker Eveleth; he is from the CNA, which is a US government funded research institute that looks at ballistic and cruise missiles. He said in response to a question on whether or not nuclear-armed cruise missiles could be deployed in