Question Time

Defence Shipbuilding

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Premier. Has the Premier received assurances from the Prime Minister that the Hunter Class Frigate Program will not be cut and that we will have a continuous naval shipbuilding program at Osborne? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Last week, the federal government announced that it would review the Royal Australian Navy's surface fleet leading to widespread speculation that the Hunter class frigates could be reduced from nine to three.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:09): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, it is a really important one. The commonwealth, obviously, last week released the Defence Strategic Review (DSR)—a very important document and at a critical time in the context of our national affairs more broadly.

The Defence Strategic Review had a suite of recommendations within it, and a number of them, naturally, I have taken up with the commonwealth government. There is a range within that which pertains to the interests of South Australia and which focuses directly on the Leader of the Opposition's question around the Hunter class and the surface ship fleet build. Contained within the recommendations of the DSR—and the most important—is an explicit commitment ensuring that there is a policy that maintains continuous ship production specifically here in South Australia.

The review that the commonwealth is undertaking naturally includes a review into the surface ship program, including the Hunter class, but that recommendation has to be considered in the context of the other recommendation which makes an explicit commitment towards continued building of surface ships here in South Australia. The Hunter program is very much consistent with the delivery of that.

The Hunter program is a huge piece of work, which is obviously being led through BAE here at Osborne, where we see significant works already being invested in and undertaken, including the current production of the prototype. It would be very disappointing if any of that were to be lost, which is why I think the commonwealth is going through an exercise to look at the way the Hunter class program can be improved for the purposes of meeting the Navy's capability.

What we do accept, and I think most experts who have commented on this accept, is that it is reasonable for the commonwealth to review the operation of Hunter in the context that is now being made in a very different decision framework than was the case when the Hunter was originally committed to. That is to say, when the Hunter project was originally commissioned the Navy, or the commonwealth, was acquiring diesel electric submarines versus nuclear submarines.

The question there to be answered is: how can the Hunter class program, or any other surface ship program, now be pursued in the context of having a very different capability for subsurface Navy capacity?

I have made clear, in direct response to the Leader of the Opposition's question, to the commonwealth that the state government will be activist in ensuring that they live up to their obligations, their unequivocal commitments to the people of South Australia, and the country more broadly, that we have a continuous ship build not just in terms of the submarine program, not just in terms of FCDs and other works for the Collins class program, but a continuous ship build for surface ships here in South Australia orientated at Osborne. They are very aware that is the state government's position.

We do intend to make a submission to that review that the federal government is undertaking. They have made it clear that that review will be done this year, so we keenly await the outcome of it. However, for all people involved in the industry, particularly the many workers we have at Osborne working on the Hunter class program, rest assured that, as it stands, the commonwealth government is absolutely committed to the maintenance of that program of work and, more than that, the state government will be doing everything we can to ensure that the commonwealth honours those commitments every step of the way.