The Minister for Defence Material Dan Tehan has made the remarkable claim that the Turnbull Governments disgraceful decision to send the contract for Navys new Supply Ships to Spain is good news for Australian shipyards.

This is good news for our local domestic shipbuilding industry. DAN TEHAN SKY NEWS 11 MARCH 2016

The contract for the Supply Ships tender is valued at up to $2 billion dollars and will reportedly result in up to 3000 jobs for Spains shipyards.

By the Turnbull Governments own admission, only about five percent of the Supply Ships contract around $100 million dollars will be spent in Australia.

Mr Tehan also falsely claimed the Turnbull Government had no alternative but to send the contract offshore, a lie that was thoroughly de-bunked by Defence SA in testimony to a Senate Committee in 2014.

We have the capacity and with minimal expenditure we can deliver what is required to lift and support the supply ships if they were fabricated in Australia. ANDREW FLETCHER THEN-CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF DEFENCE SA 21 JULY 2014

In 2013, Labor announced its plan to bring forward the acquisition of Navys new Supply Ships, with construction commencing in 2015-16.

Based on advice from Defence at the time, Labor was confident that both ships could have been built completely in Australia.

When the Abbott-Turnbull Government came to power, they threw away Labors plan and embarked on an ideologically driven campaign to denigrate Australian shipyard workers and offshore highly skilled Australian jobs.

The sad reality is that under the Turnbull Government there has never been a better time to be a Spanish shipyard worker.