The Morrison government is not “seriously considering walking away” from the multi-billion-dollar submarine contract, but it is trying to send serious messages to the French government.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Marcus Hellyer told Sky News he highly doubts the Morrison government has “any intention of cancelling” the project, despite the media reporting over the past few days.

Australia currently has a multi-billion contract with a French manufacturer to convert 12 nuclear submarines to normal diesel engine submarines which are not expected to be ready until around 2035.

The Morrison government has appointed two former senior naval officers to review the program, which is running over-budget and set to run over-schedule, according to the Australian Financial Review.

“It would be quite remarkable if they suddenly pulled the pin on it after defending it at Senate hearings for several years,” Mr Hellyer said.

Mr Hellyer said the government has “lost sight of the purpose” of the submarine project which was designed to develop and deliver military capability.

“We seem to have gotten fixated on it as a work creation scheme,” he said.

“It’s hard to objectively asses the program in terms of the capability it’s meant to be delivering if we keep fixating on jobs and local workshare.”