Former prime minister Tony Abbott is entitled to support Japan's bid to build Australia's new submarines, the foreign minister says.
But Julie Bishop said the competitive evaluation process, established when Mr Abbott was leader, was still considering the bids and would make a decision later in the year.
"Backbenchers are entitled to make comments, they are entitled to their own opinions," she told reporters in Canberra.
Ms Bishop said as a member of cabinet which would make the ultimate decision on the new subs, it would be highly inappropriate for her to comment on the bids.
An expert panel is now assessing bids from German firm TKMS, French firm DCNS and the Japanese government.
The competitive evaluation process was launched a year ago to dispel growing speculation that Mr Abbott planned to exercise his "captain's pick" and choose the Japanese Soryu design which would be built wholly outside Australia.
In a speech in Tokyo at the weekend, Mr Abbott left no doubt that he believed Japan should win the bid.
For Japan, this submarine deal was strategic, for the other bidders it was commercial, he said.
"This is the world's best large conventional submarine specifically designed to match the nuclear submarines of other nations," Mr Abbott said.
Lowy Institute analyst Euan Graham said Mr Abbott's endorsement of Japan's bid was potentially problematic as his words carried far more weight than an ordinary backbencher.
"By overtly revealing his partiality towards the Japanese bid he raises an obvious question whether the process was genuinely entered into in the spirit of fair and open competition," he wrote on the Lowy Interpreter blog.
