The thing that worries me about the submarine project is it seems to have some of the hallmarks of earlier decisions where political dealing had precedence over service needs and professional advice. Many of those most able to assess what is on offer and provide advice, not only on which design to pursue but, on risks and how to mitigate them, appear to be completely in the dark on what is happening.
I fear we could end up with yet another very expensive, much delayed, acquisition because those making the decisions are not experts and they are not even consulting people who do have the knowledge, Japans' sub builders appearing to be out of the loop is a very bad sign as it suggests everything is being run by bureaucrats, or worse political staffers, on both sides on the deal.
I try to avoid public commentary on the politics of defence acquisitions because its usually an even field to share the blame on.... but FMD if Shorten thinks that Lab's credentials are better then we are in deep schitt. Defence have paid the price for his predecessors decision to save costs even though they made a personal commitment to the Chief not to impact on operational matters. Subs and Specials are on constant operations - they are the only 2 capabilities which are always deemed to be "on"
If Shorten gets in we'll lose another 4 years due to further political manouvre - and we don't need that dill Conroy on the job - he is an absolute Woftam of the highest order. For all the criticism levelled at Fitzgibbon he at least had his heart in it even if he had bad advice within his immediate ministerial staff.
I wish that both sides would pull their heads in and recognise that they have both contributed to the appalling public perception of subs (which is the opposite to other navies views) and stop naffing around and get on with the job
its about the capability before its about the politics
quite frankly some of the union sponsored stuff re japanese subs is absolute nonsense - and its apparent that senators like xenophon are being manouvred by local politics over capability substance discussions.
some of the broader commentary re why we should build what where is just trite nonsense. and they are taking advantage of the gullibility of some senators when they "further" some of the arguments.
SA could have prosecuted a case without all this media generated morris dancing