Australian Defence Minister David Johnston speaks during a news conference in Baghdad September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's defence minister on Wednesday apologised after saying he would not trust the government-owned submarine firm "to build a canoe", comments that fuelled expectations that most work in a A$40 billion (21.6 billion pounds) programme will go offshore.
Reuters reported in September that Australia was leaning towards buying as many as 12 off-the-shelf stealth submarines from Japan.
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