Dr NELSON (Minister for Defence) (7:55 PM) —On the second issue, as far as tritium is concerned it is a radioisotope with a very low level of radioactivity. As the member for Hunter is aware, I have asked the department to conduct a full review of the history of tritium and possible exposure to it of personnel at Bulimba back to 1998, and I expect to receive that report by the end of this month. That is obviously being conducted in cooperation with and including ARPANSA, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. Once that report is received, it is my disposition to release it, by the way, but I will not make a final judgement on that until I have seen it. It would be irresponsible to do otherwise. But once I have received that, and if in consultation with the secretary, the CDF and ARPANSA we think it is necessary, then we will conduct a full review of the way that radioactive materials are handled right throughout the Defence organisation.

No, we have not asked the United States or the Pentagon for release of the F22A Raptor. The reason for that is that Australia can afford to buy, fly and maintain 100 aircraft. We currently have 71 FA18s and we have 26 F111s. What Australia needs, whilst the F22A Raptor is a brilliant air-to-air combat aircraft, is air-to-air combat and strike capability. The Joint Strike Fighter combines both. The tactical advantage conferred alone by speed and gravitational manoeuvrability is not as dominant in the airspace as it once was. What Australia is building is a God’s eye view of the airspace, which means the Joint Strike Fighter is the fundamental platform with an airborne early warning command and control system, with the ground based Vigilair, which is the network centric air combat command and control system. We will also be putting in joint air-to-surface standback missiles, upgrading our FA18s. We will also have our KC30 air-to-air refuelers, and all of that and more will give Australia control of airspace not only through the capability and the JSF but also through, in my view, the best intelligence and situational awareness that you could want in a modern airspace.

We were also formally advised that the F22—we had not asked for the F22 but we were advised by the Deputy Secretary for Defense, Gordon England—is not available for sale. General Jeffery Kohler, who heads the United States Air Security and Defense, recently said that if the F22 were to be sold, it would have to be redesigned, rebuilt, retested and sold with a degraded capability. I was also told informally that protecting the software codes would be in the order of $US1.4 billion. But the simple answer is: Australia has not asked for it because it is not the right aircraft for us.