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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-07 Daily Xml
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AIR WARFARE DESTROYER

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (15:17): My question is to the Treasurer. Of the contracts already let as part of the air warfare destroyer project, will the Treasurer confirm the value of those contracts, how many have been awarded to interstate companies, and the value of those contracts let to interstate companies?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (15:18): I will take that question on notice and endeavour to get an answer as fully as I can, although it will be difficult because this is a federal government program and I do not know what information the commonwealth is prepared to release—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will come to order.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: We know the Leader of the Opposition, in one of the most extraordinary behaviours of a political leader, publicly campaigned for the American design to win, not the Spanish.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: It is better.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: It is better! He still says it is better! This guy wants to be a premier in a year's time sitting down with the Spanish, and he is already on the public record now saying that the Arleigh Burke was a better ship than Navantia's F100.

Ms Chapman: Tintin has not let you down?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Tintin? John Howard actually appointed Navantia as the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I find it incredible. The Premier and I—and the Premier to a larger extent—meet with leading US prime contractors on a weekly basis. Only late yesterday we had the global head of IT&T here in Adelaide, one of the largest US defence companies. Last week the Premier and I had a very good meeting with the world-wide CEO of Lockheed Martin. We have had in Adelaide in the last three months the global CEO for Raytheon. We have had some of the largest prime US defence CEOs in Adelaide, discussing with our government ways in which to expand defence. The leader is someone who in a year's time could be sitting at those same dinners saying that the Navantia project is a lesser quality naval vessel. How reckless is that? That is reckless.

You cannot have credibility if you are bagging the company that has won the contract. That is a further example of why Mr Bankrupt over there is incompetent to be a leader of this state. He is incompetent to be a leader of this state because he does not even know how to deal with global companies and respect the awarding of contracts and moving on.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I did well with Mitsubishi.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I went with Ian Macfarlane, the former federal Liberal minister.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I had a big hit? We all did what we could to save the company and in the end we were not successful. Ian Macfarlane and I regret that, but that is two sides of politics working together—a notion which is foreign to the Leader of the Opposition. In respect of the question from the shadow finance minister, I will endeavour to get the information for him. I know where he is going with this question. At present there is a tender out for modules. Some modules will be built by the ASC here in Adelaide and some modules will be built elsewhere in Australia.

Mr Griffiths interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Modules.

Mr Griffiths interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, they are modules actually. I deal with this project every day. Modules or blocks—hello? We have to accept that certain parcels of work will be let to other parts of the country. We have said from the outset that we believe that about 70 per cent of the project will be done here. I am told that two very good bids have been put together by two state-based consortia: ENI Equity and the Bianco Group have put in separate bids for the module work. Also, there have been tenders by Four Jacks, Tenex, BAE and others. Ultimately, that is a decision for the commonwealth government, not the state government. We do not yet know who will be successful. It may be that they go to interstate companies; we do not know.

What we do know is that consolidation is occurring here in South Australia. All the high value, high quality, high job paying work—the systems integration, the weapons systems, the radar and the electronics—to a large extent is being done here in South Australia. So, whichever way you look at it, this is a brilliant project for South Australia. I caution the opposition about knocking this project—which is part of their intent. In parliament today the leader has already attacked the ship lift. He is now saying that Navantia was not the right choice to build the ship, and we have got the shadow finance minister now sniping at it. It is a typical opposition. Leading into an election, they should try something novel and be constructive for a change.

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