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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-30 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Deeper Maintenance and Modification Facility Project

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Planning) (14:30): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: A new aircraft defence maintenance facility was announced by the former state and federal governments on 19 February 2022. The deeper maintenance and modification facility project creates a new sovereign industrial defence capability for the Australian Defence Force, and will provide the key infrastructure necessary for the maintenance and upgrade of the P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft and the E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft.

The P-8A Poseidon is one of the most advanced maritime patrol and response platforms in the world and is the largest aircraft to permanently operate from RAAF Base Edinburgh, where it has been operating since 2018. Both aircraft have major modification programs planned over the latter half of this decade and, without this investment, works would have to be conducted in the United States of America.

The government's urban renewal authority, Renewal SA, will play a key role in delivering this important piece of defence infrastructure, having already acquired the land and commenced planning and design works for this facility. Renewal SA has today launched an expression-of-interest process to find a development partner to construct this 2.1 hectare four-bay hangar facility, and is the first in a two-stage market process. The facility is expected to need 450 full-time construction personnel per year to complete the project, and is scheduled to commence at the start of next year.

The decision to invest in the deeper maintenance and modification facility will enable the work to be conducted in Australia and is an investment that aligns with the national Defence Strategic Review 2023 that seeks to underpin our sovereign industrial base and capabilities. It is expected the facility will create an additional 160 aerospace jobs in the defence sector, comprising mechanical, avionics and structural engineers, painters and ground servicing equipment trades. This is in addition to the more than two dozen staff who have already commenced deeper maintenance activities through the development of an interim facility within the RAAF base at Edinburgh.

The establishment of a permanent deeper maintenance and modification facility in South Australia is a boost to the Australian capability, further building on the state's proud history of delivering some of Australia's largest defence projects, including the AUKUS defence partnership announcement.

South Australia is the home of building and maintaining some of the most advanced defence machinery not only in Australia but around the world. This maintenance facility will accommodate a highly trained and sought after workforce, and is another reason why Australia's complex defence projects end up being based here. The facility is expected to be operational by mid-2025.

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