House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-02-12 Daily Xml

Contents

Defence Shipbuilding

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:32): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on the formal signing of the $50 billion Future Submarines contract and what this project will mean for South Australia?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:32): What a happy day it was for South Australia yesterday when I was in Canberra for the signing of the strategic partnering agreement between Australia and the Naval Group, between Australia and France, between the people of this state and the people of France. What a great outcome for our state. I thank the member for King for her excellent question. We are on the precipice of an unprecedented flow of work to South Australia, and the only reason this work is coming—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I know those opposite hate to hear good news. They hate to hear about jobs coming to South Australia. It's a disaster for them and I will tell you why. It's because when they were in power for those six messy, messy years they did not commission one single solitary vessel for the people of this nation, causing a massive hiatus in the work down at Osborne. They conveniently forget that.

There are plenty of people on the benches opposite who were in the government at the time. I ask them to point to their speeches in Hansard where they were advocating for more work for our state and for our nation. Zero vessels were commissioned under the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd debacle. How many have been delivered by the Coalition? Is it 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50? Fifty-four separate vessels have been commissioned by the Coalition and they will create a huge amount of work coming to South Australia. It will come for generations to come, and this is very, very good news for the people of our state.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: And I know they hate it. I know they hate good news. I know they hate jobs coming to our state, but we love it. We absolutely love it. In fact, yesterday, signing the strategic partnerships agreement was a signature for a $50 billion plan, and that's only part of the work which is coming to South Australia—a total of $90 billion. That's why we are doing every single thing we can.

Only in the last two weeks, I have been down to Osborne—you know where that is, over there? I have been down to Osborne. That is the epicentre of happiness in this state because there are a huge number of new jobs going in in construction down there at the moment.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They say, 'Where?'

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They say, 'Where?' It's actually in one of their seats. You should go and visit it. Construction work is underway at the moment on the massive frigates yard, and the work has already been decided to build a massive subs yard. So more than a billion dollars' worth of construction work is underway down at Osborne and they say, 'Where?' It beggars belief.

The member for Port Adelaide should hang her head in shame. She has not educated her colleagues. I'm sure she knows about what is going on. Wouldn't it be a mess if she didn't know what was going on? Clearly, she hasn't done her job in advocating for the people of her electorate, educating those opposite about the fantastic work which is being done fixing up the mess—the valley of death—created by those opposite. We have set to work.

I can tell you now that the Minister for Industry and Skills has worked very hard to make sure that we have the requisite skills in place—20,800 new apprenticeships and traineeships being delivered—so that we can actually deliver those very important programs. The yard is underway. The Naval Shipbuilding College—a fantastic new facility—is underway so that we can prepare for the jobs of the future and the skills for the future. I'm really looking forward to the great news. Those opposite aren't; we don't care.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, unfortunately I have to intervene. I am going to ask the member for Lee to depart the chamber for half an hour under 137A for constant interjections, thank you.

The honourable member for Lee having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: I also call to order the following members and warn the member for Giles, the member for Ramsay and the member for Mawson, and I call to order the member for Elizabeth. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.