The Western Australian Government has an interest in the future sustainability of the Australian naval shipbuilding industry as the State has significant fabrication, engineering and common use infrastructure capability suitable for both building and maintaining naval vessels.
Both the private and public sectors in Western Australia have invested heavily in capability suitable for playing a role in naval shipbuilding and maintenance.
In particular, the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) at Henderson was developed by the State Government to be a world class Centre of Excellence for manufacturing, fabrication assembly and maintenance and technology activities to service the defence, marine and resource industries. The capability of the AMC for naval shipbuilding and repair are significant and substantial.
With a number of the State’s major resource projects transitioning from a construction to operational phase naval shipbuilding and maintenance projects provide opportunities for local fabricators and ship maintenance companies outside of the resources sector.
The State Government established the AMC - Common Use Facility (CUF) at Henderson in 2003. The AMC-CUF has been an outstanding success, providing infrastructure and facilities for the defence, oil and gas, marine and resources sector on an ‘as required’ basis.
Since its opening in July 2003, the AMC-CUF has delivered more than 373 major projects worth in excess of $1.75 billion and generated more than 26,700 jobs.
Significant naval contracting work is currently undertaken in WA. The value and importance of this capability to the Commonwealth is substantial.The State has had a consistent theme that for the Australian naval shipbuilding capability to remain viable it should be embedded in a broader industry base, that base must have compatible management structures, skills and infrastructure sustained by non-defence business. The SuperBlock Concept continues the State’s theme.
The Concept aims to highlight the industry capability in WA’s resource-based heavy engineering sector that would result in increased productivity, international best practice and value for money for the Australian naval shipbuilding industry. The Concept aims to introduce the internationally competitive skills and infrastructure capabilities of WA industry into the naval shipbuilding industry and major naval ship acquisition programs.
The productivity of WA companies in the resource sector has enabled them to win work against strong international competition. This capability, combined with the State Government owned common use facilities, provides a flexible approach to the demands of the Defence acquisition program.