House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Hunter Class Frigate Program Hunter Class Frigate Program The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly Black Leader of the Opposition Hunter Class Frigate Program The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is again to the Premier. What advocacy has the Premier undertaken to his federal Labor colleagues, and the Prime Minister in particular, for the construction of nine Hunter class frigates in South Australia as promised? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly Black Leader of the Opposition The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: In late 2018, the then federal government committed to the construction of nine Hunter class frigates. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:17): Committed in a press release, yes, but funded, no. That's the difference. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's the difference. The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call. The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: To build tier 1 surface ships of a highly complex nature, it takes not hundreds of employees but thousands of employees. To pay the wages of thousands of employees, you have to have some money in the budget—you've got to have some money in the budget. What we have now got is certainty in terms of the budget commitment that is required to substantially uplift the capacity that we see down at Osborne. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is warned for a second time. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, you are on two warnings and you can continue to interject, but you will soon, unfortunately, meet the standing orders. Premier. The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: What we have been told today, not from the commonwealth government but indeed from BAE themselves is that they now have the certainty that they require to employ another thousand people between now and the end of 2026. Just think about that for a moment. Right now in South Australia, BAE Systems employs 1,000 people. That is going to double in the space of the next 2½ years— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —in the space of the next 2½ years. That's how confident BAE are in the announcement that we have seen today. Most people in this state would be celebrating the fact— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that they are doubling the size of the workforce. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Most people, including young generations of South Australians, would be happy about the fact that they now have certainty— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley! The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —about the work and the pipeline that is in front of them. It's important to appreciate— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is on a final warning. The Premier has the call. The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Most people appreciate that we now have the certainty that is required. Today, the Deputy Premier— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morphett is warned for a second time. The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Today, the Deputy Premier and I were standing next to, like I said, countless workers, but there was young Becky, who was a young apprentice boilermaker. She has just started her apprenticeship, and she spoke candidly around how this has been the news that she has been waiting for. This is the news that actually gives her the certainty to be able to be committed to this industry forevermore. The truth is we actually need a lot more Beckys. The single biggest challenge that we've got to this program now isn't the politics; it isn't even the political decision-making in Canberra. The biggest risk that we have to this program actually is about procuring the workforce that is required. We are at full employment in this state. We've got the best performing economy in the nation, according to— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —the Commonwealth Bank. We've got an unemployment rate that is below the national average. I don't think that happened once during the course of the former government. What that means is that the challenge isn't to work out where the work is coming from but how we are going to get all the work done. We've got to be sending a signal, we are going to have a very clear message—hopefully a united message across the aisle—to the next generation that this is an industry worth committing yourself to, not just for your own personal economic benefit, although that will be there, but actually in the interest of the nation. We are building these ships for a reason. It's not an economic boondoggle. We are building these ships for the security and sovereignty of our country, and we want young people to dedicate themselves to those careers—young women like Becky who we spoke to today, a lot more of them. To that end, we welcome today's announcement. I hope the opposition welcome today's announcement so that we can simply get on with the job.