Australia may buy the UK Royal Navy’s decommissioned ships, which were scrapped due to UK Government defence spending cuts last year.

Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said he would discuss the decommissioned naval vessels with his UK counterpart, Liam Fox, during his visit.

“That is one thing that I will have a conversation with Liam Fox about. There is a prospect that may be of some interest to Australia, but we’ll take that step by step,” he added.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute representative Andrew Davies said the country would more likely be interested in buying a landing ship or landing platform dock rather than a frigate or an aircraft carrier.

The UK Government has scrapped its flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, along with four frigates, a landing ship and a larger landing platform dock.