SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Thanks very much for coming.
I am here with Nick and Steve to respond to today's announcement and I want to say this first. The people who deserve credit for this announcement today are the people of South Australia.Becausetogether South Australians stood upand made clear to this LiberalGovernment that we would not acceptthem breaking the promise they madeto all of us at the last electionto build 12 submarines here inAdelaide.
So the first group to takecredit for this announcement shouldbe all South Australians. Itis because this community stood uptogether that Malcolm Turnbull andthe Liberal Party have finally donethe right thing.
The reality is theLiberal Party have spent threeyears trying to do everything butthe right thing. Three years tryingto break their promise, theyweren't able to because SouthAustralians stood together in orderto ensure a strong future for ourState.
Now I pay credit to Federal andState Labor and others who havestood up to ensure the submarinesare built here.
I would make thispoint. We know, as everybody does, that there had been public reportsthat DCNS preferred whats called a hybrid build - that is, to have the first or secondsubmarine constructed offshore.
Mr Turnbull before the election shouldrule that out. I note in today's announcement, the press release fromthe Prime Minister does leave a bitof wriggle room for commercialnegotiations. Of course today'sannouncement is an announcementabout it in-principle but not anannouncement of a contract.
WhatI'd say to Mr Turnbull and theLiberal Party is you should ruleout a hybrid build, the submarinesbeing built offshore before the election, but of course as a partythat is always - the Labor Partywhich has always stood up for SouthAustralian jobs and has had a clear position on this from day one, whatwe would say is this. We welcomethe Liberal Party doing the rightthing.We welcome 12 submarinesbeing built in South Australia and our job nowis to work together to ensure wemaximise the economic benefit forSouth Australians, for jobs hereand for industry.
I'll hand over toNick Champion to say something.
NICK CHAMPION (SHADOW PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR MANUFACTURING): Getting a decision out ofthis Government is like extractingteeth. It's really, really hard.It's taken a really, really longtime.
But my electorate welcomesthis decision, because it's an important one.
I've just come from talking to Holden workers who are having their conference today, talking to them about how they would want to retrain for new jobs - new jobs in shipbuilding and new jobs in the defence industry.
We are obviously, because we've been waiting for so long for this decision, finally happening today that we are behind the eight ball in terms of allowing people to retrain and get re-employed as the automotive industry wind down in 2017.
So this is a critical decision that the government has been forced to make by the people of South Australia, by the community, by the unions, by the shipbuilders.They haven't wantedto do it and we'll be, from thisday forwards, making sure that theysign the contracts, making surethat they create the jobs, makingsure that they give out thecontracts to the small firms, tothe subbies, to make sure that South Australia extracts the most economic benefit from this very important decisiontoday.
WONG: Thank you. Any questions?
JOURNALIST: Doyou expect today's announcement willchange votes in any way?
WONG: Well, ourfocus on this has always been clearand consistent. We understood, whenin Government and in Opposition,that this was a decision that was about South Australia'seconomic future as well as adecision critical to Australia'sDefence capability and that's theway Labor's approached this.
Ourview has been that we needed the subsbuilt here. That was what bothparties promised before the lastelection. The Liberal Party hasspent three years trying to doeverything but the right thing andwe welcome the fact that they'renow doing the right thing becauseSouth Australians stood together.
JOURNALIST: More simply put then, do you go to plan B foryour federal campaign in South Australia?
WONG: Look,South Australian jobs will alwaysbe part of a campaign here becauseit's such an important issue and,as Nick said, we've already seen what the Liberal Party's viewsabout South Australian jobs havebeen this term.
We saw them goad Holden into leaving and they did. But our focus is jobs but is also investing in schools, investing in education, investing in health. These have always been Labor's priorities and they always continue to be.
JOURNALIST: Well, you have to focus on more short-term jobs knowing that some of the jobs won't come online for several years?
WONG: Well what we need to focus is on isensuring we get the maximumpossible commitment from theLiberal Party to South Australianjobs.
I think we've all seen this before. We've seen the LiberalParty say the right thing before anelection and then walk away from itafter an election.
That's what'shappened in relation to submarinesand I think what we do need isbipartisan commitment to jobs here. Bipartisan commitment as Nick said,to making sure the workers who'vebeen made redundant at Holden,throughout our State, get access tothe opportunities this presents.
JOURNALIST: Doyou agree with Senator Xenophon's assessment that there are still a few years of considerable downturn and turnover at ASC that needs to be plugged?
WONG: We know what the Liberal Party's attitude to ASC has been. We know that Tony Abbott and this Liberal Government sent the supply ship contract to Spain instead of ensuring they were built here.
We know there has been toing and froing by this Liberal Government when it comes to a continuous build.
What I would say is this - the Labor Party has made it very clear, we support a continuous build. We support 12 submarines being built here in South Australia. That's always been our position. That will continue to be our position and we are pleased that because of the community pressure that Malcolm Turnbull has said that he will do the right thing. Now we are going to make him deliver it. Thank you.