Last year, the Department of Defence told a Senate estimates hearing that Australia’s new submarine fleet would cost $89.7 billion – a 12% increase on the previous estimate of $80 billion in November 2019.
Defence also told Senate estimates that work on the first of 12 submarines would not begin for several years, and that the first vessel would not go into active service until at least 2034.
In 2018, independent Senator Rex Patrick – a former submariner – claimed the cost of building and sustaining the 12 submarines was “approaching recklessness [and] needs to be addressed by government”.
