LEON BYNER: Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister, came to Adelaide last August announcing a $40 billion ships and frigate build. Mr Abbott said the government would build a fleet of frigates at the ASC and we have a basic fleet build centred on SA. He called it a historic announcement and a RAND Corporation report stated that surface vessels could be efficiently built in this state. Critical to this plan of course was trying to avoid the valley of death and this is where theres not enough work for ASC and so they have to lay off a whole lot of people.
Now, the Government promised to build Offshore Patrol Vessels in the lead up to a frigate build and so there is now some doubt - and certainly the Federal Government need to clarify - whether the promise that they gave us will be fulfilled. So lets talk with the Shadow Trade Minister Penny Wong. Penny, will these promises be fulfilled?
SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Good to be with you Leon and regrettably it seems that Malcolm Turnbull is just like Tony Abbott when it comes to breaking promises to South Australia and then crawling away from them. As you said there was a big announcement last year, which said we get what are called Offshore Patrol Vessels being built here in Adelaide from 2018 and of course the frigates, which youve talked about too, from 2020.
What the then Prime Minister said was that it would be a requirement that any builders pledge to conduct the major build in South Australia. That was what he told South Australians and you remember Christopher Pyne and Simon Birmingham banging the drum about how fantastic an announcement this was.
This week in the Senate Malcolm Turnbulls Defence Minister Marise Payne conceded that a build in South Australia will not be a requirement under the tender, will not be a requirement under the contract. Now, thats a direct contradiction from what the then Prime Minister Abbott said last year.
BYNER: You see, its more than what he said, they actually came to town, brought the then Defence Minister with them, and summoned the media for a historic announcement.
WONG: Thats right. It was certainly a lot of fanfare, which of course they had to have because youll remember Leon, and youve spoken about it before, the context of this and the background of this is the Abbott Government walking away from the submarine build-
BYNER: -Yes-
WONG: -here in South Australia.
BYNER: Yes.
WONG: So they had to come along and make another announcement to try and recover some ground because people in Adelaide were so angry that theyd been told before the election the submarine build would be here. And then of course we saw the Liberal Government walk away from that promise. Its really disappointing for the many families who rely on shipbuilding jobs and related industries that we now see the Government again saying one thing in August and now clearly doing another.
BYNER: So basically we get the frigates, but we dont get the patrol vessels.
WONG: Well, I hope we get the frigates, I dont think thats as advanced as the patrol vessels, but the bigger problem is the one you identified, that if we dont get the patrol vessels in the timeframe the Government promised were going to see hundreds of jobs lost at ASC. Weve already seen some 900 job losses out of the workforce there under this Government. The evidence we got in the Senate earlier in the week was that if the Offshore Patrol Vessels contract, if we dont have the major build of that in Adelaide, were going to see over 1000 more jobs go. Now thats very bad news and very disappointing.
BYNER: As I understand it, I had a quick chat last night with defence expert Rex Patrick and what he explained was, that if we dont get the first 2018 build that youve talked about-
WONG: -Correct.
BYNER: We then lay off all these professionals, so that by the time, if we get the 2020 build, theyll have to rehire again and start from the beginning because they wont have enough people.
WONG: Thats exactly right. There are many many problems associated with the Government management of this and their broken promises. One is obviously potential job losses really hit South Australia and South Australian families hard. But the second is a broader issue, which is weve invested as a nation a lot in the people who work at ASC.
BYNER: Yes.
WONG: Weve invested time, training and it is a workforce, despite the fact that the Liberals for some time were putting the boot in to them, theyre a workforce of whom we can be proud. And if we have a situation where they dont have work for a couple of years a lot of knowledge, expertise, that just walks out the door.
BYNER: Right, now, got a couple of questions. Is Labor now, the election is not that far away, and at this stage theyre saying maybe August, but it could be sooner, does that mean that your side will campaign for these vessels? Or are we dealing with a situation when the decision by that stage will have already been made and cant be reversed?
WONG: I think ultimately the answer to the last part of your question depends on the Government. We will continue to say the Government needs to honour its promise to South Australians. It should honour its promise on the subs and it should honour its promise on the Offshore Patrol Vessels and also the frigates. And we need a continuous build in Australia and we need a continuous build here in South Australia as well. Thats what weve been arguing for and well continue to campaign for it.
BYNER: All right, question, how do you think the States going economically at the moment, from your perspective?
WONG: Obviously theres a lot of challenges. We saw Joe Hockey, whos off overseas now on his posting, but he really taunted the car industry to leave. That meant weve got some real employment challenges, particularly in the northern suburbs and weve got a big transition in the economy. So one of the things that is critical is that we get clear government leadership, we get less spin and more honesty when it comes to what the decisions will be and we absolutely need to have support and investment in our defence industries.
BYNER: All right, Penny Wong thanks for joining us.