Shoebridge, Sen David

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: I might just introduce the different matter that I'm now going to. I've looked through the initial budget papers and then the updated budget papers for this financial year, and I looked at the nuclear-powered submarines budget expenditure. In the initial 2025-26 budget, the nuclear-powered submarine project had a total approved project expenditure of $15.448 billion. Then, in the half-yearly updates, that increased to $18.56 billion. What's that $3 billion of additional expenditure on nuclear submarines, which popped up in the first six months of this year, for? Admiral Johnston, can you shed any light on the $3 billion change? Adm. Johnston : The CFO is coming forward to answer those questions and, of course, some of them are also relevant to the Australian Submarine Agency.