Australian Government stands firm on submarines

The Federal Government is not budging on its plan to buy 12 submarines despite the Opposition demanding justification for the plan which could cost about $36 billion.

Labor's defence white paper, released in April, calls for 12 subs "to defend our approaches".

The Opposition is questioning the number.

"Nobody seems to have any idea as to how much these submarines are going to cost us," Opposition defence science spokesman Bob Baldwin said.

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