House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-14 Daily Xml

Contents

UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:06): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house about the visit of the United States Secretary of State to South Australia?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:07): I thank the honourable member for his important question. Tomorrow I will be pleased to host the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on a tour of Techport Australia at Port Adelaide, the hub of Australia's naval military manufacturing industry. Secretary Clinton's visit in Adelaide follows on from the AUSMIN bilateral meetings which are being held in Perth today.

I am pleased that secretary Clinton has made time to visit this important facility which is currently the site of the consolidation of Australia's new air warfare destroyers and will be the main site of the assembly of the Future Submarine Project. Members may be aware that the United States Pacific Fleet is based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and San Diego, California. American law requires major repair work on US ships to be undertaken in the US, quite rightly, as they know the importance of having a local defence industry.

However, Defence SA has been lobbying US officials for a number of years to use Techport for voyage repairs that are currently undertaken in Singapore and Japan. This is an excellent opportunity to put our case to one of the most senior leaders in the United States. Of course, our defence industry locally includes a number of important American companies such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, which means many of the key relationships already exist.

In addition, BAE Systems at Edinburgh has also made a component for the Joint Strike Fighter that will be used in the US, Australian and other defence forces around the world, and I was very pleased to visit the factory there at Fort Worth earlier this year. The attraction of additional work on the US fleet to Adelaide would create hundreds of jobs, not just at Techport, but from the flow-on effects of having US service people on shore leave here in South Australia.

I am sure all members of this place would join me in welcoming Senator Clinton to Adelaide and wishing her an enjoyable visit.