Question Time

Submarine Program

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier assure South Australians that all the full cycle docking work, including both blue-collar and white-collar jobs, on the Collins class submarines will continue to be done in Adelaide?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:03): As most people in this parliament would be aware, we have been working very hard to mount the case for the continuation of the full cycle docking to be done here in South Australia. South Australia is the undisputed home of the Collins class submarine.

Mr Malinauskas: For now.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The Leader of the Opposition seems to want to throw stones in an area which has historically been a bipartisan area. I would be very keen to see exactly all of the representations the Leader of the Opposition has made on behalf of the people of South Australia or even whether he can get his own party into line on this issue, because we know for a fact that the Labor Party—

The SPEAKER: Premier, there is a point of order. I will hear the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Premier is debating. Talking about us is debate.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. Point of order on the point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: On the point of order, sir: you have repeatedly ruled that that is not a demonstrable link between just the mention of another party and therefore being debate.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, Minister for Education. I have the point of order. At this stage, I am going to allow the Premier an opportunity to provide some relevant background information, but I will be listening carefully.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: And I don't need the Minister for Transport to intervene at this stage either, thank you. The Premier has the call; I would like to hear the answer, please.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The question is whether I can personally guarantee that all full cycle docking will continue into South Australia on an ongoing basis. I presume that this is one of those sorts of rhetorical questions because the reality is that the Leader of the Opposition, if he was actually paying any scant attention to his portfolio, would know that it is not up to me. This is a federal decision, so whether I can assure it or not is completely irrelevant.

What we are doing, though, is that we are working very hard, and my question to the opposition is: what are they doing? We know that Labor is out there talking very strongly about moving full cycle docking over to Western Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are, I think, putting forward a very cogent case as to why the full cycle docking should remain in South Australia. I am happy to go through those key issues with the parliament. Number one, South Australia is the home of the Collins class submarine. They were built here. They have been maintained here for a long period of time. Of course, we know that the intermediate docking and the mid-cycle docking is done in Western Australia, but the full cycle docking has been done here in South Australia.

The full cycle docking is far more complicated than the other maintenance work that has been done. It involves the piercing of the pressure hole, and so it is far more like construction. The federal government has made a decision for that construction work to continue in South Australia into the future, especially as evidenced by the awarding of $90 billion worth of naval programs to South Australia, including 12 Future Submarines for South Australia.

The Western Australians believe that they have an argument to mount for moving the full cycle docking over to Western Australia. We don't support that whatsoever. There are not a lot of places in the world where there is any knowledge of the Collins class submarine anymore. South Australia is the repository of all that knowledge.

The most important thing for Australia going forward is the availability of the Collins class through to the time when the Attack class comes into service. This is going to be more than a decade away, so it's absolutely crucial not only that the Collins class is kept in service but also that it is kept available for the Royal Australian Navy. It is a critical piece of defence infrastructure for our nation.

We have done a great job in terms of the full cycle docking. There were problems associated with the full cycle docking in the past, but there have been major improvements, and I think that any move out of South Australia would put that availability at risk and then ultimately the defence of our nation at risk.