The State Government has welcomed Defence Minister Kevin Andrew’s announcement that the next fleet of Pacific Patrol Boats will be built in Australia, but said it doesn’t go far enough.

Today the Federal Government announced its Request for Tender to build 21 steel-hulled replacement patrol boats for Australia’s Pacific neighbours, worth $594 million in addition to through life sustainment and personnel costs estimated at $1.38 billion over 30 years.

Minister for Defence Industries Martin Hamilton-Smith said that he welcomed any news of more work for Australia’s defence industry; however he questioned Mr Andrews comment that this is “a week of decision and delivery for defence.”

“The Pacific Patrol Boats contract is one small piece of the defence industry puzzle and will not provide enough work to bridge the ‘valley of death’,” Mr Hamilton-Smith said.

“The Federal Government is yet to clarify how much work Australians will receive from the $250 billion worth of defence contracts still outstanding.

“There is 120,000 man years of work at risk if the Federal Government decides to send our much larger future naval shipbuilding contracts overseas.

“The State Government calls on the Federal Government to mandate for maximum local participation in all major defence contracts to secure future local jobs.

“What we need from Kevin Andrews is a decision to support Australian industry on the much larger Future Frigates and next generation of submarines.

“What we need now from Kevin Andrews is the delivery of a 30 year strategic ship building plan for Australia to rescue an industry which is hanging on to survival.

This is not necessarily a win for South Australia – there is no guarantee where the Boats will be built, with strong competition from New South Wales and Western Australia.

“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.

The new patrol boats will be primarily used for maritime surveillance and fisheries protection. They will be gifted to Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Cook Islands and Timor-Leste.