From the election campaign trail in Western Australia (May 2019), Prime Minister Scott Morrison made some naval shipbuilding announcements relating to the Royal Australian Navy’s mine-clearing and hydrographic capabilities. Speaking from the Henderson shipyard south of Perth, he announced that more ships would be built in … Henderson. After the recent twisted history of our future submarine project, the media and public might be forgiven for suspecting that this is a vote-grabbing exercise in pork-barrelling. So let’s unpack what’s new here, what’s already in the works and, more importantly, what’s actually a good idea.
