The above cartoon says many things. It is a comment on the four members of the Advisory Panel for the Competitive Evaluation Process, on avoidance of "where to build" issue, a club wielding Defence Minister Andrews and Senator Nick Xenophon (smelling a rat). "Yamamoto" is more likely a slightly xenophobic reference to the famous WWII Admiral rather to a (or the) actual Shipyard. (Cartoon courtesy of Your Democracy http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/30346)
There has been no news or statement that I have seen from the Advisory Panel since it was appointed on June 5, 2015. One can only assume it is designed to endorse and dignify the suspected captain's pick. However Minister Andrews is doing his best to allay suspicions of a pick.
Michael Owen of The Australian, July 30, 2015 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/japanese-subs-bid-not-a-done-deal-defence-minister-kevin-andrews/story-e6frg8yo-1227462411438
"Japanese subs bid not a done deal: Defence
Minister Kevin Andrews
Concerns about the capability
of Soryu-class submarines have been raised by Defence Minister Kevin Andrews a
day after Japan’s ambassador promoted the vessel as the closest to fulfilling
Royal Australian Navy requirements.
Mr Andrews…told The Australian that while there
was some strategic benefit to the Japanese bid to build Australia’s
next-generation fleet of submarines, capability was the key criteria. “The
Soryu is about the size that we’re looking at, but there are also other
questions in terms of its endurance,” Mr Andrews said
“Obviously we are interested in strategic alliances with
like-minded countries in the area, but at the end of the day it is going to be
the capability of the submarine that counts. We’ve got to have a submarine
which is as good and preferably better than the Collins."
“It has got to be able to travel very long distances and
sit under the water for long periods of time and come home.” …He rejected
repeated claims by Labor that Tony Abbott had done a secret deal with Japan,
pointing to an expert oversight [Advisory] panel chaired by former US secretary of the
navy Don Winter and including former Federal Court judge Julie Anne
Dodds-Streeton." WHOLE
ARTICLE
Pete
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