Ministerial Statement

Europe Defence Mission

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:00): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: The South Australian government has been a strident advocate for the state's capacity to lead Australia's sovereign naval shipbuilding industry. It is almost two years since the federal defence minister told the Senate that he doubted if the Adelaide-based shipyard of ASC could be trusted to 'build a canoe'.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since the days when Australia considered buying and building all of its future submarines in Japan, its future frigates from overseas builders and Army combat vehicles which were to be sourced without any local industry content. The 2016 defence white paper and the industry policy statement set out a plan to renew the Royal Australian Navy in partnership with Australian industry and international designers. It was a plan that signalled a great victory for South Australia.

Two weeks ago, South Australia stood tall with a major stand and presence at Euronaval—one of the world's greatest naval expos, based in Paris, and in fact the world's biggest exhibition for naval shipbuilding, prime contractors and supply chain companies. The Defence South Australia stand hosted 22 businesses from Adelaide and was visited by the world's leading buyers, builders and bidders. The Premier; Defence SA Advisory Board chairman, Sir Angus Houston; Defence SA Chief Executive, Andy Keough, and his team; and I met with the designers of Australia's future submarines, DCNS, and began the process of planning for infrastructure builds, cross-industry engagement, workforce planning and settlement of advance teams in Adelaide.

We met with bidders for the future frigate program at the exhibition, and I then took part in separate visits to their shipyards. The BAE shipyard hosted the SA delegation in Glasgow, Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri hosted us in Genoa and Spain's Navantia hosted the delegation in Ferrol. The consolidation of relationships with these companies has been most valuable. For the businesses who joined us, it was a very effective opportunity. Just yesterday, I received a note from Simon Kennedy, the owner of local shipbuilding company Smart Fabrication, which read:

Without the support from the state government, travelling to one of the world's biggest maritime expo's would only have been something I would normally had the opportunity to read about.

Instead, now I can talk about opportunities that will come from meeting face to face with some of the key contract administrators from some of the largest shipyards in the world.

The ability to spend an hour building a relationship and explaining firsthand what we can offer to international primes is the equivalent of about a years worth of emails and still not actually meeting the contact.

Simon says he returned from Euronaval in Paris buzzing with enthusiasm and excitement over the key contacts he had made. This view was echoed by other defence industry companies that took part. Simon added, and I quote:

For a smaller SA shipbuilding and heavy engineering company, we have several European companies wanting to come to SA and visit our shipyard with the possibility of forming long lasting business ventures. Just the meeting I had with DCNS alone made the trip totally worthwhile not to mention the several others that showed great interest in working together.

He concluded:

This was truly the best opportunity I've had in 18 years as a company director to showcase our capability on an international stage. A huge 'well done' to the state government and all the support team for an outstanding job in making this happen. Jobs surely will flow from this amazing experience.

The Euronaval exhibition and subsequent trade missions demonstrated that the South Australian government is leading the way to ensure Australia's sovereign capability and that major naval shipbuilding infrastructure is done for Australia in Australia by Australian workers—just as the federal government eventually promised at the last election.

On that note, I draw to the attention of the house that, during last month's mission, federal defence minister Marise Payne in Senate estimates would not recommit to the 90 per cent local content promised by the defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne, in April this year in the lead-up to the federal election.

There were also media reports proposing moving the sustainment of the Collins class submarine from Adelaide to Perth, along with 1,000 jobs attached to that program. It makes no sense to create 2,900 jobs in SA on new submarines while at the same time losing 1,000 jobs in SA when it is clear that we have the space, the capacity and the enthusiasm to build new ships and sustain the Collins class at the same time.

I advise the house today that the state government will be as strident on these two issues as it has been on the need for an Australian build of new ships. We will fight for South Australian jobs and South Australian industry, and I would call on those opposite to stand with all South Australians in demanding that the promises made in the lead-up to the election are kept. There are thousands of jobs at stake for decades to come.

Finally, I thank the expert team at Defence SA and Sir Angus Houston for their efforts in lobbying for South Australia and its businesses at the highest levels in international markets over the last three weeks. Led by former submarine commander Andy Keough, and including experienced maritime executive Richard Price and marine engineer David Eyre, we have the best representation in the world's biggest markets through our own agency, Defence SA. South Australia is setting the agenda on Australian jobs and industry participating in defence projects and we are proud to be doing so.