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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-02-24 Daily Xml
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Defence Industry

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:26): On Tuesday 4 August 2015, the federal cabinet was in Adelaide to approve $39 billion worth of new naval ship building. The projects were announced in Adelaide by then prime minister, Tony Abbott, and then defence minister, Kevin Andrews. This announcement brought on much fanfare.

The first project to be announced was that nine new Future Frigates, at a cost of $20 billion, would be built in South Australia three years earlier than scheduled, commencing in 2020. The second project announced was that construction of offshore patrol vessels would be brought forward by two years, commencing in 2018. The cost was set at $19 billion. We were told these projects would sustain around 1,000 jobs and, once both projects were up and running, about 2,500 shipbuilding jobs would be maintained for decades.

These projects would help save jobs and help reduce the risk associated with a 'cold start' by having instead a continuous build. The two projects were to overlap one another, thereby reducing the cost of training, which would be higher if there were a gap between the projects.

Prior to the last federal election, the Liberals committed to build 12 submarines in South Australia at a cost of $50 billion. This means that the total commitment over the next 20 years for the shipping industry in South Australia is supposed to be $89 billion. I remember the television news coverage of the announcement, and I will quote some soundbites from Tony Abbott, 'This is a message of hope and confidence to the people of our country, to the people of this state.' Another quote was, 'The frigates are coming as the first prize, and one way or another the subs will be coming as a further prize.'

South Australians were overjoyed to hear this. They were indeed full of hope—a feat after the Liberals single-handedly shut down the automotive industry, costing tens of thousands of jobs. With high unemployment, South Australians finally had a Liberal prime minister who was paying some attention and respect to this state. This hope was also reflected in The Advertiser's front headline the next day, which read, '$89 billion ship salvage—PM pledges job security with frigate build to shore up state shipbuilding industry'.

On 21 August 2015, even Tory Shepherd, political editor for The Advertiser,in her article entitled 'So much ship work, We'll need a school', went on to say that the then defence minister Kevin Andrews was considering building a 'schoolhouse' to train engineers and other workers for the future frigate and future submarine build. Unfortunately, since that announcement, Mr Abbott and Mr Andrews were marched out by Mr Turnbull and his supporters with large knives in their backs.

The federal Liberals are now led by smiling, do-nothing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who appointed current defence minister, Marise Payne, who recently distanced herself from Mr Abbott's commitment to shipbuilding in Adelaide. South Australians are again being used by the Liberals. False promises of jobs are being made and then retracted. They did it with Holden and recently they have been dancing around the number of submarines that will be built and whether they will be built in SA.

I do not blame South Australians for continuing to try to believe the federal government, as they have become so desperate for positive announcements from the federal government. It is time that the state Liberal Party stands up for South Australia and condemns their federal colleagues for these broken promises. Christopher Pyne and Senator Birmingham need to condemn Mr Turnbull in the strongest terms. Mr Marshall and the South Australian Liberal Party cannot just wait for Premier Weatherill to stand up for the people of South Australia against the federal government going back on its word.

Time expired.

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