COALITION WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENT ON FRIGATE BUILD

The Coalition welcomes today’s announcement that Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been selected to build the Royal Australian Navy’s future fleet of 11 general purpose frigates.

The upgraded Mogami-class frigate should enable Australia to better defend our country while continuing to play a critical role in maintaining peace in our region and deterring aggression.

Today’s announcement strengthens Japan’s status an important security partner in the Indo-Pacific. It builds on the Australia-Japan Reciprocal Access Agreement that was negotiated and signed by the previous Coalition Government in January 2022 and came into force in August 2023.

The Albanese Labor Government must ensure that the upgraded Mogami frigates are delivered in a cost-effective and timely manner. Australia needs these frigates in the water as soon as possible to avoid critical gaps in our capability.

This important decision comes as Australia faces the most challenging geopolitical environment since the Second World War.

While today’s decision is welcome, we remain concerned that Labor is failing to adequately fund our defence forces. Labor’s own National Defence Strategy is significantly underfunded, and experts are warning our degraded sovereign capability is leaving us unprepared for the challenges and threats we face.

At a time when our allies and partners are all increasing defence spending, so too must Australia. The Coalition has reaffirmed its support for increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP to meet the demands of the Defence Strategic Review.

At a time of rising global instability, sustained underfunding risks weakening Australia’s deterrence and damaging trust in our alliances. The Government must match its rhetoric with investment, and we stand ready to support a bipartisan pathway to deliver the capabilities our nation needs.

Comments attributable to Acting Shadow Minister for Defence, the Hon. Andrew Hastie MP:

“In an increasingly dangerous world, the Mogami-class frigate will play in important role in defending Australia and maintaining peace in the Indo Pacific.

However, Labor needs to get moving. It has taken the Albanese Government more than two years to make this decision, and we cannot afford more delays.

Labor must progress works at Henderson immediately to ensure the precinct and workforce are prepared to build Australia’s general purpose frigates locally.”

Comment attributable to Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:

"While we welcome the Government’s decision to acquire the Mogami-class frigates, this decision should not detract from the urgent need to strengthen our sovereign industrial base for building missiles, drones and other asymmetric capabilities at speed and scale."