Patrick Durrant | Sydney
While welcoming the release last week of the Federal Government's Naval Shipbuilding Plan, SA Minister for Defence Industry Martin Hamilton-Smith has said it ‘was dropped from the sky’ and should really be considered as a ‘first draft discussion paper’.
In a statement released yesterday, Hamilton-Smith criticised the Government's lack of engagement with States and industry prior to issuing the Plan and said it should be revised in the form of a proper plan of action once thorough consultation had taken place.
“First this plan was not thoroughly consulted with the states, industry or workers and has dropped from the sky. Second the plan is defined not by what it says, but by what it does not say. Thirdly it contains some wishful thinking and optimistic timelines which may pull it apart.”
He called for the plan to be reinforced with five key actions: a guaranteed Australian build; delivery of 90 per cent Australian industry content; action on workforce and skills; genuine delivery of a sovereign capability; and a genuine national approach.
Some of the questions that needed answering, according to Hamilton-Smith, included whether the Future Frigates would be built by an overseas designer or by an Australian company such as ASC or Austal and would DCNS and the Government hold to promises they made guaranteeing 90 per cent of the work would be done in Australia?
He criticised what he saw as the Plan's lack of detail on Offshore Patrol Vessel construction and considered it “highly likely that more than two OPVs will need to be built in SA to maintain industrial capability and avoid a costly blowout to the Future Frigate program”.
Hamilton-Smith said Australia's ability to creat a sovereign construction capability was not guaranteed by the Plan and cited Austal USA's experience of having to ensure its US shipyards comprised 100 per cent US workers before it could receive contracts.
“Overseas workers must be either become residents/citizens or be replaced by Australians within three years of construction commencing,” he said. “If not, sovereign capability is gone.”
Federal Defence Industry Minister Pyne had, according to Hamilton-Smith, “refused to establish cooperative structures such as a ministerial council with state ministers”.
“Instead of cooperation, plans are dropped without notice or engagement and national announcements are made in company with partisan opposition MPs without the courtesy of notifying state governments.”