I would suppose everyone knows that 90% local build in the original french bid was a BS. But how's that 60% compares with offers from Japanese and German?
Nocookies | The Australian
South Australia’s Defence Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith says it is the Weatherill government’s “official” position that the state will get as little as 10 per cent of work from the $89 billion submarine and shipbuilding spend.
This is despite reports today that the claim — rubbished by the federal government as completely false — is contained in a submission by Defence SA to a Senate inquiry into naval shipbuilding.
“First of all this is not Defence SA’s submission, it’s the South Australian government’s position. I took it to cabinet some weeks ago and it’s our official view, so let’s just take Defence SA out of it,” Mr Hamilton-Smith told ABC radio today.
Last week, Mr Hamilton-Smith issued a news release that said: “Naval shipbuilding jobs and investment are at risk, unless the federal government can deliver the promised 90 per cent level of local industry content.”
But federal Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne today said the claims by Mr Hamilton-Smith, via his agency Defence SA, were “completely nonsensical”.
“Defence SA quite frankly wouldn’t know because Defence SA is not involved in building the submarines. The submarines project is an Australian government project,” Mr Pyne told ABC radio.
“I’ve always said from the very beginning ... that a local build meant around 60 per cent of the project.
“(French naval shipbuilding company) DCNS said that they thought it would be around 90 per cent of the submarines, which is fantastic, but that was never the government’s figure.”
South Australia will get “the lion’s share” of work on the nation’s next submarines, frigate ships and offshore patrol vessels, he said.
The decision has already been made to centre construction in Adelaide, Mr Pyne said, dismissing reports the WA Labor government was set to swoop.
Mr Pyne said “Defence SA simply wouldn’t know what the percentages were because they actually don’t have anything to do with the program”.
And Mr Pyne said that for the record, by “local”, he meant South Australia.
“There are some businesses around Australia of course that will make things for the subs as they will for the frigates and the offshore patrol vessels. This is the largest national infrastructure project in our history ... so of course there’ll be work shared all around the country,” he said.
“But it doesn’t make any sense for the majority of the work not to be done in South Australia because that’s where the infrastructure is for it.”
Mr Pyne said he had not broken the work down on a state-by-state basis as “DCNS right now are in the process of identifying those Australian businesses that will be part of the Australian industry content”.
He said the “scare-mongering by Defence SA and others in South Australia is really quite irresponsible”.
“What they’re obviously trying to do, I think, is play politics with it because Martin Hamilton-Smith’s been trying to get this argument going for some time,” Mr Pyne said.
Mr Hamilton-Smith the $90bn to build the submarines and frigates is “only one-third of the spend” over the 30 year life of the frigate and submarine projects.
He conceded that “it’s hard for anyone to quibble about where in Australia” the 90 per cent of the work is done.
“We’ll obviously put South Australia’s best foot forward but as long as Australian workers and Australian industry get 90 per cent, I think Australians would be pretty happy with that,” Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
He said his cabinet submission was largely based on the advice of Defence SA.
