A new icebreaking ship – the largest single investment Australia has ever made in Antarctica – will be integral to national security, according to Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Mr Abbott confirmed in Hobart on Thursday that the government was pressing ahead with the tender, as it released detailed specifications for the ship.
"It's an important part of our economic security, and an important part of our national security, and that's why this is something which is very much committed to by this government," Mr Abbott said.
To be commissioned by 2019, it will likely cost at least the $359 million being spent by Britain on a new polar ship – and could be closer to a new $613 million Chinese vessel.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt refused to confirm the exact allocation with two competitive tenders under way, but said the "design, build, long-term operation and maintenance" could mean a billion-dollar project over the ship's life.
The as yet unnamed new vessel, to be built overseas with Australian participation, would be bigger and stronger than the ship it is replacing, the ageing Newcastle-built Aurora Australis.
The 8000-tonne displacement Aurora has been caught in ice repeatedly with a maximum capacity for constant ice-breaking limited to 1.23 metres at 2.5 knots.
The new vessel's ice-breaking capacity would be 1.65 metres of ice with 30 centimetres of snow above, at three knots. This would set it among Antarctica's most capable, exceeding Japan's Shirase and equalling the US Coast Guard's behemoth, Polar Star.
After last summer's Akademik Shokalskiy besetment, when Aurora was unable to reach the Russian tourist expedition ship, stronger search and rescue demands will be made of the new icebreaker.
Selection criteria include a demand to "support emergency response including search and rescue or pollutant contamination within the Australian Antarctic Territory coastal waters without reliance on other countries' national programmes".
The government also revealed a greater than expected marine science capability in the new vessel, including provision for a drop keel, sea floor mapping and "quiet" engines to enable the use of sensitive instruments.
Two companies, Serco Systems' DMS Maritime, and P&O Maritime Services each have 150 days to submit a proposal.
Greens Antarctic spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson said he welcomed the next stage of the icebreaker's construction.
"But we condemn the government for their abandonment of Customs patrols in the Southern Ocean, and their recent decision not to renew the lease for the ice-rated Customs vessel, the ACV Ocean Protector," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
