The Federal Government must commit to a 30 year strategic ship building plan for Australia to rescue an industry on the brink of extinction.
Minister for Defence Industries Martin Hamilton-Smith said the Federal Government must move now to stem the flow of job losses and save highly skilled workers from unemployment.
“A 30 year strategic plan will ensure a continuity of build that will support our defence industry to achieve competitive productivity levels and return value for money back to the nation,” Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
“Australia is at risk of rapidly losing its capacity to build and sustain complex naval shipbuilding platforms including the frigates and next generation of submarines.
“We’re now hearing from Lindsay Stratton the Chief Executive of New South Wales shipbuilder Forgacs Engineering that one in five jobs are to go, with the entire 600-strong workforce under threat if new contracts are not found this year.
“There are also thousands of naval shipbuilders in South Australia and Victoria’s Williamstown who are waiting for the Federal Government to guarantee them future job security.
“The ‘valley of death’ is here now – there has been enough discussion and debate from the Federal Government, what we need is a decisive plan to rescue this strategically vital industry.
“The Federal Government has embarked on what it says is a ‘competitive evaluation process’ with France, Germany or Japan to build our next fleet of submarines.
“The State Government will continue to call on the Federal Government to mandate for maximum local participation in all major defence contracts to secure future local jobs.
“Yet the Federal Government has failed to provide any clear direction or clarity for Australia’s defence industry, which is already causing jobs to be slashed and investment to be stalled.
“To date no new naval shipbuilding projects have been approved and the industry and its workforce are paying the price.
“There is $250 billion worth of investment and 120,000 man years of work at risk if the Federal Government decides to send our future naval shipbuilding contracts overseas.
“The message from New South Wales is unless the Federal Government acts swiftly, thousands of jobs will be at risk in Adelaide.