The voters understand what they where told. My bold.
On May 8, opposition defence spokesman David Johnston
said the Coalition accepted and "will deliver" the white paper's commitment.
"The Coalition today is committed to building 12 new submarines here in Adelaide," he said. "We will get that task done, and it is a really important task, not just for the Navy but for the nation.
"And we are going to see the project through, and put it very close after force protection, as our number priority if we win the next federal election."
Mr Johnston
said it would take 18 months to make a decision on replacement submarines.
"We've got to know what we want the submarine to actually do. Once we've got that right we know what sort of submarine we'll need... we need to look at the market and see what is cost effective," he said earlier in May.
"Twelve new submarines is a massive project. We want to get it right."
The Coalition released its
defence policy on September 2, a week before the election. It reiterated the commitment, saying:
"We will... ensure that work on the replacement of the current submarine fleet will centre around the South Australian shipyards."
