The Turnbull government has referred the leak of the draft white paper to the Australian federal police after the Australian published a story that claims the date of the acquisition of new submarines was delayed after the leadership change.

“I can confirm that the secretary of the department of defence has advised me that he has initiated an investigation which will obviously be conducted by the Australian federal police into the apparent leak of these classified documents that were referred to in the newspaper,” Turnbull told question time.

On Wednesday, the Australian’s Greg Sheridan obtained the draft white paper “produced” under Tony Abbott and the former defence minister Kevin Andrews.



Confirming the story’s central claim, Abbott is also quoted saying: “I’m not just disappointed, I’m flabbergasted at the decision.”



But the former prime minister’s claim is under question because, on Tuesday, the day before the story was published, the Australian Defence Force chief, Mark Binskin, was asked at a media briefing whether the submarine acquisition had been delayed.

Binskin replied: “No, no, not at all. No.”

Sheridan told Sky News that the source for the documents was not Abbott.

“Look I can say this much to you about the source, the source wasn’t Tony Abbott,” Sheridan. “I went to Tony Abbott with my information and interviewed him on the record and as he says, what he says is on the record. So he spoke to me on the record.”

On Wednesday morning, the leader of the government in the house, Christopher Pyne, said the government took the leak very seriously.

“There are no more classified documents than ones that are in the national security committee and therefore the government will take this leak to the Australian very seriously,” Pyne told Adelaide radio.

Asked whether Abbott was “off the leash and leaking like a crazy person”, Pyne said he would not “describe him that way”.

“The public want Malcolm Turnbull to succeed,” Pyne said. “Because they know that we are in an economic transition and they believe that the Coalition is the best party to manage that transition.”

Pyne said the story was confused as the acquisition of the 12 submarines was on the same timeframe as previously – the change referred to the operation of the submarines, based on defence department advice.

“We take the best advice on defence and drafts are draft documents, obviously they’re drafts, they’re not supposed to be the final document,” Pyne said.

“Whatever happened between the draft and the final document would have happened on the basis of advice from defence.

“The acquisition of the subs happened at exactly the same time as it’s always planned. The subs being in the waters and starting their operations appear to have been pushed back a couple of years, certainly not 10 years.”



Labor asked if Abbott was right to suggest the Australia needed new submarines in the middle of next decade.

Turnbull underlined the submarine delivery date was dependent on the competitive evaluation process.

Defence minister, Marise Payne, said the defence department had advised an extension of life for the Collins class submarines was “feasible and practical”.

“The Defence White paper reflects exactly that advice,” Payne said.



“There is no delay in the build of the future submarines.”



Payne said although the new submarines were recommended under the Labor government in 2009 and “Labor did nothing”.



The submarine bid has been a long and tortured process. The need for 12 new submarines was first proposed in a defence white paper in 2009. A 2013 Defence White paper again recommended the existing Collins class submarines were replaced.



In its election policy, the Coalition promised to build the subs in South Australia but after he came to government, Abbott appeared to favour construction by Japan. Former treasurer Joe Hockey said in late 2013 there was no time for an open tender because Australia needed the submarines by 2026 when the first Collins class submarines were decommissioned.



After Abbott’s leadership came under pressure in February last year, he promised South Australian senator Sean Edwards the government would have a full and open tender.

