sub

When is this government going to learn that you don’t put defence facilities in areas with major populations (“Three east coast sites on nuclear subs shortlist”, March 7)? Newcastle, Port Kembla and Brisbane are not suitable. The Australian coastline has plenty of suitable sites away from built-up areas: Jervis Bay for instance. This government is playing election politics again. Terry Cook, Ermington

I cannot believe the stupidity of this government. Now we are going to paint a target on a city for China or Russia to aim at if things go nuclear over Taiwan or Ukraine. Don’t we already have a naval base in a lightly populated area? Jervis Bay? Gippsland? Alan Stanley, Upper Corindi

Scott Morrison is telling us about an “arc of autocracy” and announcing several possible sites to build a base for submarines that we won’t even get for at least another 20 years. He’s looking more and more like John Howard did in 2007, desperately searching for a lifeboat to save his drowning government. His popularity is diving like one of his non-existent submarines. Mark Pearce, Richmond

Amid all the crises facing us, our Prime Minister makes another big announcement about a big announcement. The original big announcement was that AUKUS would bring us nuclear submarines, by about 2040. Now we have a big announcement that three east coast sites have been shortlisted as possible submarine bases, and this will be followed by another big announcement about the actual choice of the site, by the end of next year. Wow. That will cheer everybody up, won’t it? Rob Phillips, North Epping

You can tell that an election is close when the PM announces a $10billion national security plan to build a new submarine base to keep us all safe in our beds. Another empty promise that he knows he’ll never have to honour, for submarines that there is not yet a contract for, that could possibly arrive here around 2040. It’s a shame there is no Coalition plan to spend as much on, so far into the future, to address the real and catastrophic danger posed by climate change. Alan Marel, North Curl Curl

Amid all the gungho talk about the nuclear subs we are to acquire, I have seen no reference to how we will crew these vessels. Past press reports have said that we currently struggle to keep three submarines operational because of crew constraints and maintenance requirements. Perhaps we will have a lend-lease arrangement with crews supplied along with the subs. Victor Boase, Narraweena

If Messrs Morrison and Dutton wish to recapture Warringah, they should consider locating their vote-winning submarine base at Chinamans Beach, next to Balmoral. Alternatively, Quarantine and Castle Rock have the advantage of lying out of sight of prying eyes at sea. Peter Heron, Forestville

Put the sub base near Kirribilli House. Even though it’s hugely unlikely Scott will still be there, it’ll make any prime minister more cautious if it’s a PM’s life on the line. Jane Norman, Kotara South

READ MORE:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/pm-searching-for-election-lifeboat-with-sub-base-20220307-p5a2b9.html

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