Abbott sinks sub purchase

FORMER prime minister Tony Abbott has continued his extraordinary critique of the Turnbull Government, warning its $50 billion submarine program has big problems and needs rethinking.

Mr Abbott told the Centre for Independent Studies yesterday that Australia could instead consider asking the US for nuclear-powered subs.

He also praised the Labor Party’s strength in national security and its support for nuclear power.

“Labor has actually been stronger than the Government on the assertion of freedom of navigation rights in the South China Sea,” he said.

“If a strong national security case were to be made for nuclear-powered submarines, I am confident that, at least under the present Labor leadership, it would get a fair hearing.”

The Federal Government last year signed a contract with French firm DCNS for 12 submarines, after also considering German and Japanese designs.

“All the submarines on which the bids were based are excellent for their countries’ needs but none, it seems, for ours,” Mr Abbott said.

“The Japanese sub lacked range, the German sub lacked size and the French sub lacked conventional power. But instead of changing what we wanted, we’ve decided, again, to bring an orphan submarine into being.”

Mr Abbott compared the new subs with the Collins-class submarines, which have been hit with a series of issues over the past decade.