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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-08 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

TECHPORT AUSTRALIA

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:03): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: It is good to see A Current Affair in the house. This morning I visited Techport Australia at Outer Harbor, the home of this state's exciting new shipbuilding industry. We were there to mark the achievement of a number of significant milestones in the development of this world-class facility, and it is truly world class. It will be home to the $8 billion air warfare destroyer project, the single largest naval contract ever let in Australian history. In fact, it is the biggest, and also the most complex, defence project in our history.

Among the major milestones reached at Techport recently are the completion and opening of the administration centre and the construction of the new, fully serviced wharf. At 213 metres long and 20 metres wide, the wharf is capable of servicing an air warfare destroyer as it undergoes final outfitting, harbour and sea trials, as well as maintenance and repair works.

Construction of the transfer runway and a separate dry berth, capable of supporting the consolidation of two air warfare destroyers concurrently, has also been completed. The shiplift, which is the largest of its type in Australia and capable of lifting vessels weighing up to 9,300 tonnes, is on track to be finished by February 2010.

The common user facility in which the state government has invested over $300 million is now 80 per cent complete. As I said, this is $14 billion worth of defence contracts which have been won by South Australia in the past three or four years, but the centrepiece of it is the air warfare destroyers.

The Australian Submarine Corporation's $100 million upgrade to its shipyard, adjacent to Techport, is more than 64 per cent complete and on schedule for completion by the end of the year. The business of building the Australian Navy's new destroyers will begin on site from the third quarter of this year.

The Australian Submarine Corporation will be recruiting 140 workers between now and the end of this year to begin the massive task of building the three ships under the $8 billion air warfare destroyer contract. Obviously, we have seen Raytheon take on hundreds of employees; other contractors and subcontractors will do likewise. For instance, we are very pleased that the British company, Ultra, is setting up here in South Australia.

What I have just mentioned represents just a fraction of the benefits that South Australia will receive from this project. At the height of the air warfare destroyer construction program in 2011, the shipbuilding workforce on site will be around 1,000 workers. The AWD project, including the state's $300 million investment in Techport Australia, should return to South Australia about $1.4 billion in economic benefits over the next decade creating more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The skills and infrastructure being generated to support this project will underpin the future of shipbuilding in this state for many decades to come. I consider the creation of this new shipbuilding industry to be one of the most important achievements of this government. This is this government putting our money where our mouth is in terms of delivering $14 billion worth project. Can I say this—

An honourable member: And the federal government.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: One dollar.

An honourable member: And the federal government.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: Two dollars.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The actual money—the member opposite interjected about the federal government, and that is why he has had to pay a fine under the new scheme. This is state government money. It is by making this commitment to build Techport, to build the skills centre and other facilities down there that we have been able to win these contracts. That is what I mean by, in fact, making our infrastructure investment.

It is an industry that will gather together the skills, facilities and the cluster of commercial interests capable of building both ships and the next generation of Australia's submarines. The Prime Minister has already said publicly that the next generation of submarines, worth over $20 billion, will be coming to Adelaide. So, after the air warfare destroyers, we move into the next generation of submarines which will be an even bigger project.

Importantly, ship and submarine building will not only deliver jobs but long-term careers for everyone from tradespeople to high-tech systems engineers. While the AWD project is the centrepiece of our defence industry expansion, it is by no means the sole element.

South Australia has secured around $14 billion in defence contracts in recent years and our state attracts about a quarter of Australia's in-country defence equipment and maintenance spend. So, with 8 per cent of the population, we get about 25 per cent of the defence industry spend in Australia.

In addition to the air warfare destroyers, we find a number of other major defence projects such as the $1 billion AP-3C aircraft maintenance and upgrade contract and also the Australian Submarine Corporation's multibillion dollar Collins class submarine through-life support contract.

The work has already begun on the new superbase at Edinburgh—the transfer over to a battalion. I hope we will see the battalion come to South Australia to get their colours this year, as they prepare to make the move over here. About $700 million will be spent in the northern suburbs on a superbase at Edinburgh.

We are also building another outstanding centre of defence industry expertise at Technology Park in Mawson Lakes, which is already home to leading global defence companies such as BAE Systems, Raytheon and Saab Systems. In recent months, both the Deputy Premier and I have welcomed the head globally of IT&T. We have welcomed the head globally of Raytheon and also, of course, most recently the head of Saab Systems from Sweden.

Planning and design is also underway for the Mawson Lakes precinct to host a secure electronic common user facility, about which I cannot brief the house because it is secret. This will be the only facility of its kind in Australia and will provide security-cleared office and laboratory space to support advanced engineering and research activities. When the expansion of our SABRENet ultra high-speed optic fibre network is completed here at Techport in June, all our major defence, research and education institutions will be linked by a broadband connection that operates 20,000 times faster than domestic broadband. So, I ask all of us here who are into IT to just take that into account—20,000 times faster than domestic broadband.

The concentration of these projects, companies and critical defence infrastructure will provide us with a significant advantage in attracting future defence projects to our state. We also recognise that a skilled workforce is fundamental to our growing defence sector. For example, Techport Australia is home to the Maritime Skills Centre, which provides training programs to develop white and blue-collar skills throughout the life of the AWD project, and beyond. We are also working with the state's education and training sector, as well as with the commonwealth, to ensure that our professional and technical education standards meet the industry's demands.

In addition to developing initiatives such as the Advanced Technology Schools Pathways program, we are attracting some of the world's premier educational institutions to Adelaide, including Britain's Cranfield University, which specialises in defence education. There is no doubt that South Australia leads the nation in defence industry development. We are the only state with a dedicated agency—Defence SA—that is focused specifically on defence and defence industry growth.

We have also established the Defence SA Advisory Board, which is made up of some of Australia's greatest defence minds, chaired by General Peter Cosgrove, the former head of Australia's Armed Services. It also includes General Peter Lay, who until quite recently was the head of the Australian Army; David Shackleton, of course the former head of the Australian Navy; Les Fisher, the former head of the Australian Air Force; the former defence minister Kim Beazley; and others.

South Australia's commitment to the defence industry is irrefutable. Next to mining, defence is one of the state's most valuable industries of the future. It certainly is the jewel in the crown of South Australia's bright and burgeoning economic future, particularly in manufacturing. We now await the release of the commonwealth government's Defence White Paper. It is the aim of this government to ensure that our state wins as many opportunities and contracts as we possibly can that will be outlined in the Defence White Paper. This will enable us to continue the growth of this industry in the state and create jobs for South Australians.

I have an announcement to make, and that is that in our State Strategic Plan we had a target to increase the number of defence jobs in South Australia from 16,000 to 28,000 by 2013. Currently, at the halfway mark, we are up to the 24,000 mark in defence jobs. I look forward to briefing the parliament in the future on progress being made.

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