South Australia's premier hits back at claims by Alexander Downer that all of the nation's future nuclear subs should be built overseas — but the former foreign affairs minister says there should be more scrutiny of the 'eye-watering' cost.
South Australia's premier remains insistent that the nation's future nuclear-powered submarines should be constructed in Adelaide, despite a prominent call for the vessels to instead be built by, and purchased from, another AUKUS nation in order to save taxpayers "billions and billions of dollars".
"I don't think the existing federal parliament or the next one is going to make a decision on this, but I think down the years, in the end, the federal government will decide that this is just too expensive, and they will buy the submarines from overseas.
"First and foremost this is a question of national security. I mean, Mr Downer's there saying it is in Australia's national security interests to have nuclear-powered submarines — but to get them, we have to have the capacity to build them. "It would be 30 per cent, up to 40 per cent, cheaper to have the submarines built in the US or the UK rather than completely construct a new facility in Australia," he said.