Defence Shipbuilding

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:14): My question is to the Minister for Defence Industries. How is the state government responding to recent developments concerning the federal government's shipbuilding strategies?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:14): I thank the member for Taylor for her question because there have been some very important developments recently on this subject. First of all, Four Corners ran a very informative program some weeks ago during which it was revealed that in October the federal government—

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: —was within a whisker of announcing that—

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is called to order.

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: —our submarines would be built in Japan and that—

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned a first time.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: —a media release had been prepared and that the decision was virtually a done deal until wiser heads caused a delay resulting in what is now a competitive evaluation process, thankfully.

But the second development is that the Royal United Services Institute has this morning in Adelaide begun a submarine conference. It was well attended with about 200 people there this morning and all of the key opinion leaders, including the federal Minister for Defence, Kevin Andrews; the opposition leader, Bill Shorten; the opposition defence spokesperson, Stephen Conroy; David Feeney, his deputy; and a host of other dignitaries and senior defence leaders.

There were some remarkable developments. First of all, the defence minister has formed a new consultative group to bring together DMO, industry, and the federal and state governments. The state government welcomes that and we commend the defence minister for doing that. He has also outlined further details of his competitive evaluation process which, regretfully, as emphasised in his address this morning, reiterates that the federal government is determined to ensure that an overseas build and a hybrid build—that is, some of the submarines built overseas and some built in Australia—along with an Australian build, are all considered as part of the response.

He repeated that the response would be limited to France, Germany and Japan. The state government believes, and I think the majority of the audience this morning believed also, that the federal government is on the wrong track. It is on the wrong track, and what absolutely changed things this morning was that the federal opposition leader set out the alternative government's view, and the alternative government's view—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: They don't like it, Mr Speaker. They don't like it because the alternative government's view is to propose a 12 to 18-month process involving a request for a proposal, followed by a request for tender. They want to include Sweden in the four choices available. They want to have a two-phase process funded by the commonwealth based on three fundamental principles: a guarantee of submarine performance, Australian ownership of intellectual property and, most importantly, that the next generation of submarines will be built, maintained and sustained in Australia—and they are on the right track.

The federal opposition have offered the government a bipartisan way out of this mess and they have said that if the federal government will agree with the alternative government's view, it will grace through the parliament and they will see it done. There is an opportunity now to get this right on the basis that we are going to build this in Australia so that we can have the discussion about how we do it, not whether we will do it.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: I notice Senator Sean Edwards has got the courage to stand up and so has Senator Dave Fawcett. I even see in the paper this morning that a senior former ex-Liberal minister, McLachlan, also stood up, which just shows that you can stand up and show some moral fibre on this and stand up for what you know is right instead of taking orders from others. What the government will do is everything it can to ensure that a bipartisan outcome is achieved. It was great to see an opposition putting out an alternative policy instead of just—

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. I call to order the members for Stuart, Chaffey, Mount Gambier, Davenport, Flinders, Heysen, deputy leader and Treasurer. I warn a first time the members for Adelaide, Chaffey, Hammond and Mount Gambier. I warn a second and final time the members for Schubert, Hammond, Mount Gambier and Chaffey.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: That's right, I loaded up the charge sheet. Deputy leader.