Philip Smart | Adelaide
South Australian Minister for Defence Industries, Martin Hamilton-Smith, has called on the Federal Government to honour what he sees as a promised 90 per cent level of local industry content in naval shipbuilding projects.
In a statement, Minister Hamilton-Smith said with the government’s naval shipbuilding plan and Future Frigate programs on the horizon, concerns are emerging that local benefits are “at risk of slipping away in all states”.
“Industry and unions have every right to expect that the 90 per cent promise will apply to the frigate program,” he said.
“The Commonwealth must ensure that it is not hoodwinked by the multi-nationals.”
“The submarine and frigate programs have a combined estimated value of $89 billion. The 90 per cent promise would deliver around $80 billion of that value to local companies and to local Australian workers. Anything less would be a failure by the Commonwealth and a broken promise.
“Over the past 18 months ASC has shed 1005 jobs as the second AWD was put in the water and program scaled back.”
The Minister said the Federal Government must be vigilant to ensure promises made by multinational companies to win shipbuilding work in Australia are honoured throughout the program.
“The Commonwealth must ensure that it is not hoodwinked by the multi-nationals who will build the submarines, frigates and OPVs, into some kind of hybrid construction plan by stealth,” he said.
“We must be more than an assembly plant; we must be receiving the promised intellectual property, science and expertise for a genuine transfer of technology. Unless this is spelt out in the documents the Federal Government is about to release, they will be a great disappointment and an alarm bell for the entire program.”
“The South Australian Government wants an assurance from the Commonwealth that the contracts signed so far with DCNS have adhered to the 90 per cent Australian industry content promised by both DCNS and the Commonwealth Government.
“We also want confirmation of the number of companies DCNS has either pre-qualified, or identified as reliable partners, in the submarine project; together with a clear statement about expectations of frigate designers in the RFT to be announced shortly.”
A spokesman for the office of Federal Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne, refuted the claim that the Australian Government has promised a blanket 90 per cent local content.
“It was DCNS who said that they anticipated under 10 per cent of the content needed for the Future Submarines would be sourced from overseas,” he said.
“The Federal Government, working with successful tenderers for the projects in its $89 billion Naval Shipbuilding plan, will ensure a local build which maximises local industry content.”