The vessels were "obsolete" for their original intended purpose and had outlived their usefulness to the RAN. Their replacements are already in service.
Before we keep increasing the size of our fleet, we have to have the personnel necessary to operate them. You will have noted the current recruitment program for naval personnel that has been running for some time now. The simple fact is that we can barely staff our existing fleet as the navy is short handed and new, larger vessels are on the way that will increase the numbers of personnel required. Keeping those old vessels wouldn't really improve things as their maintenance costs were too high and they probably would have stayed in port due to lack of personnel to man them.
The issue that gets me is the claims we are providing military vessels to Sri Lanka, which has a poor human rights record, and that there is no guarantee Sri Lanka won't use the vessels against Tamils etc, in a military fashion. I would have thought that we would provide the vessels without any armament at all, as it wouldn't be required in the people smuggling role. That way, we can claim the moral high ground by providing useful vessels to a government that can't afford to buy them. If the Sri Lankan government then re-arms the vessels, they would stand condemned.
