SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Thanks very much for coming. Today we have the dreadful news of job losses at the ASC. What we do know today is that Tony Abbotts broken promise on submarines has cost yet more South Australian jobs, its cost over 100 jobs at the ASC and can I just say for those workers - we were all down there with Bill Shorten earlier this week we were all sad to see these workers having to receive this news. Its a direct result, a direct result, of Tony Abbotts broken promise. Tony Abbotts broken promise on submarines has led to over 100 South Australian jobs lost today. And the reality is, if you look at since Tony Abbott became Prime Minister, hes done nothing but white ant and undermine this workforce. Nothing but white ant them. Whether its the Minister who declared they couldnt build a canoe or the release of a report hacking into them the day before the first Air Warfare Destroyer was launched, the Prime Minister spurning an invitation to turn up to the launch or his continued criticism of this workforce. What we know is that Tony Abbott doesnt stand up for these workers and he certainly doesnt stand up for South Australian jobs.
Im here with my fellow frontbencher, but also the local member for Port Adelaide, Mark Butler.
MARK BUTLER, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: Thank you Penny. This is, as Penny said, a dreadful day for South Australias economy, but more importantly Im sure everyone agrees a dreadful day for 101 South Australian families who found out today that they no longer have a job at Techport, down at Osborne. Today adds to some dreadful stories throughout the course of this year, not just in Adelaide, but in Williamstown in Melbourne and in Newcastle hundreds of shipbuilding jobs have been lost and this is now reaching a crisis point for this industry across Australia. Tony Abbott has a very clear choice in front of him: either he can keep the promise he made to Australian voters to build the next generation of submarines here in Australia or he can keep the promise he appears to have made to the Prime Minister of Japan. He cant keep both. And its now beyond time, as we lose another 101 jobs here in South Australia, its now beyond time that Tony Abbott backed in the Australian interest and required that the next generation of submarines and frigates be built here in Australia, just like, quite frankly, John Howard did for the current generation of Air Warfare Destroyers.
JOURNALIST: Even if the submarines are built here, work is winding down on the AWD project. The Liberals would say its because Labor dragged its feet on the project, that we do now face a capability gap.
WONG: Well, lets remember this: when we were in government, our shipyards were fully deployed. When we were in government, our shipyards and our shipbuilders were building ships. Thats what happened when Labor was in government. When Tony Abbotts in government, weve got people being made redundant. Thats the difference.
BUTLER: Can I also add to that, that during the last election campaign, Labor made it clear that if re-elected, we would look to building the replacement supply ships here in Australia to bridge the gap between the Air Warfare Destroyer program and the Future Submarines. Now, when the Abbott Government took a decision about the supply ships, local shipbuilders were not even able to submit a bid. So its been quite clear now that there were ways to bridge the gap between the Air Warfare Destroyers and the Future Submarines, and Tony Abbott has utterly ignored that.
JOURNALIST: Do you see more jobs going if things dont change?
WONG: Well, if Tony Abbott continues to refuse to keep his promise, if hes determined to break his promise to Australians that he would build these submarines here then I fear we will see job losses continue and I think that is a great sadness, not only for the families concerned but for our whole economy. These are highly skilled jobs, this is a capability we need to have in Australia. Its time for Tony Abbott to do the right thing, to do what he told people hed do before the election which is to build the next generation of submarines here in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Arent these jobs cuts a symptom of AWD project becoming more efficient it has faced a huge cost blow out.
WONG: I think its very clear that this Government has been hacking into this workforce at ASC, making excuses for their own failure to make decisions, thats the reality. And certainly some of the propositions you just put to me dont accord with what the experts have told the Senate Inquiry, what shipbuilders have told me. But ultimately it comes down to this: when Labor was in government, we had our shipyards fully deployed, we had people working in those shipyards, building ships, doing what theyre good at, doing what theyre best at. Now weve got layoffs and weve got a Prime Minister who told Australians theyd build the submarines here in Australia whos now made a promise to the Prime Minister of Japan.
JOURNALIST: Do you think its almost a certainty that when the White Paper comes out it will outline the plans for subs?
WONG: Well, that would be yet another broken promise, wouldnt it? Its not what the Prime Minister said before the election. You have to say South Australians and Australians are getting pretty heartily sick of a Prime Minister who continues to break his promises and not only that, break his promises and hurt Australians in the process. Because when you tell people before an election therell be no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no changes to GST and then you head down a path of thats what youre going to do, well youre going to hurt families. When you tell people youre going to build submarines here in Australia and then you make promises to the Prime Minister of Japan that youre going to build them there, then thats a broken promise that costs Australian jobs.
JOURNALIST: The State Opposition Leader Stephen Marshall today said he was calling on Tony Abbott to guarantee South Australian shipbuilding jobs. What do you make of that?
WONG: Well, I welcome Stephen Marshall deciding hes going to finally come on board when it comes to standing up for South Australian jobs, but I have to say what Im more worried about is the Federal Liberals from South Australia and their complete failure when it comes to standing up for South Australian jobs. I mean Christopher Pyne, Jamie Briggs, Matt Williams, these Liberals here in SA, theyve gone missing when it comes to standing up for South Australian jobs.