Construction of the Hunter class frigates is part of the Australian Government’s continuous naval shipbuilding program intended to develop sovereign Australian shipbuilding and sustainment. The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Defence’s procurement of Hunter class frigates and the achievement of value for money to date.

The Australian Government requested this independent analysis to assess the Royal Australian Navy’s surface combatant fleet capability to ensure its size, structure and composition complemented the capabilities of the forthcoming conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.

In 2018, the government planned to build nine new frigates in three batches at Osborne, South Australia. This audit provides independent assurance to Parliament on Defence’s procurement, decision-making and advising, contracting, and delivery to date.

This paper endeavours to identify the principal factors that need to be identified and addressed if Australia is to pursue the nuclear propulsion option for its next generation submarines. The author argues that Australia has the capacity to manage these issues, even if it cannot resolve them absolutely.

In order to deliver on the Australian government’s ambitious plans for future shipbuilding capability, the urgent task today is to develop a bridging strategy that delivers short term capability wins and boosts vital industrial capability. The plan presented in this paper does both - by offering a viable way forward to an expanded defence capability...