The truth is we know nothing about capital acquisition in the Defence Force. Parliament has never been briefed on the Defence Force's capital acquisition projects under the strategic capital acquisition master plan. The Minister also refuses to reply to parliamentary questions on capital acquisition, arguing that, "The department is not at liberty to release this information to the public as it may compromise security and also generate," get this: "undue speculation within the country and the industry".
This is frankly ludicrous. The truth is: we do not know anything about the special defence account. Parliament has never been briefed on the Defence Force's secret account, used, we are told, mainly for spending on weapons systems. This, despite the fact that every year ...