Reports today that the Turnbull Government is considering the privatisation of ASC and sending warship contracts to Western Australia are deeply concerning.
This is a Government that has a record of deceiving the people of South Australia.
Last year in a blaze of publicity Tony Abbott came to Adelaide to announce the Offshore Patrol Vessel construction would begin in Adelaide and committed to a continuous build in South Australia.
TONY ABBOTT: Well, the competitive evaluation process for the Frigates and the Offshore Patrol Vessels, or Corvettes, will start from October but a condition of the evaluation process will be that the major build is centred in South Australia because theyve already got the infrastructure with Techport and all these other things to do it here in South Australia.
ABC ADELAIDE - 4 AUGUST 2015
In a complete backflip Christopher Pyne then said the Offshore Patrol Vessels were never promised to South Australia.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That is great news for South Australia, the OPVs is $5 billion and it was never promised to Adelaide.
ABC ADELAIDE - 8 MARCH 2016
Marise Payne and Mathias Cormann must come clean today about their Governments plans for ASC.
Not only is the Government walking away from its promise to build 12 submarines in Adelaide, reports indicate that substantive work on the Future Submarines will be sent interstate.
The Turnbull Government must also confirm its commitment to a continuous build of surface vessels centred on South Australia.
South Australian shipbuilding jobs and our national defence capability are too important to be caught up in division and chaos inside the Turnbull Government.