Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too would like to speak briefly in the committee stage of this bill tonight, and I will actually mention the name of the bill that we are debating—unlike Senator Edwards, who seemed to take the opportunity to indulge in a bit of union bashing yet again. You would think he would have learnt from the Victorian election result that union bashing does not work.

My question is to the minister. I ask him: will his government be supporting the amendment to the Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2014) Bill that is being debated here tonight—that is, the amendment moved by my colleague Senator Conroy. I ask: will the government be supporting this amendment and, if not, why not? In particular, I would like to hear whether the Liberal coalition senators on the other side, and, indeed, Senator Bob Day, who is in the chamber tonight, will be supporting this very worthwhile amendment to what is a very inconsequential bill without it.

The omnibus repeal bill was introduced as part of the government's much heralded but completely worthless—it was a big fizzer actually—red tape repeal day. The bill itself was much ado about nothing before this amendment moved by Senator Conroy. The amendment will put into the bill a requirement that the Future Submarine project in South Australia is subject to a competitive tender process, which it should be. Without this amendment the bill would simply do things that governments always do in repeal bills—that is, get rid of legislation that is obsolete or redundant or unnecessary for some reason or another. So the bill, without this amendment from Senator Conroy, did things like repeal an act in the immigration and border protection portfolio that related to particular tariff decisions made between 1996 and 1999 that are no longer relevant. It will repeal the Patents Amendment (Patent Cooperation Treaty) Act 1979, which was spent once the amendment was passed into law and so that is of no consequence either.

The government made a big song and dance about this bill, but it did not do anything substantial. But now, if this amendment gets up, it will do something substantial. What it will do is require the government to enter into a legitimate competitive tender process for the 12 new Future Submarines that we want to see built in South Australia. It will ensure, as I said, that the tender process be subject to a proper competitive tender process because we here on this side believe that is what should happen. As my colleague Senator Dastyari went on at some length about, that is what the experts in this field believe should happen as well.

The problem we on this side have is that we can see the way forward for the Future Submarine project but we have come up against a Minister for Defence who is determined not to build those submarines in South Australia and not go through a legitimate competitive tender process. He has demonstrated that on a number of occasions over the last few months. Since he made the promise to the people of South Australia to build those 12 submarines in South Australia he has backtracked at a million miles an hour. You have to ask why.

Is it because he does not want the submarines built in South Australia? We have seen many examples of how the Liberals have walked away from the South Australian manufacturing industry. We saw it in the automotive industry, as they forced Holden out, and we may be seeing it here again with the submarines. Is it that the Minister for Defence would prefer to give this contract to an overseas company to build the future submarines or is this a directive coming from the Prime Minister's office? That is something the Labor Party has been attempting to ascertain.

We know now that the Minister for Defence is fundamentally biased against the Australian Submarine Corporation. We heard him say the infamous words last week that he would not trust the workers of the Australian Submarine Corporation to build a canoe. That appalling comment still resonates in South Australia. There was an immediate outrage in South Australia when he said that comment and there is still outrage in South Australia because the minister has been unable to backtrack from it. He half-heartedly recognised the fact that some people might have been offended by his comment, but he has not apologised to the people of South Australia, particularly to the workers at the Australian Submarine Corporation, and he should. As a result of him not apologising and for making that stupid comment in the first place, Labor have, quite rightly, called on the Prime Minister to ask the Minister for Defence, Senator Johnston, to resign from his position.

Not only was that comment insulting to the people of South Australia and workers at the Australian Submarine Corporation; of course it was incredibly reckless that the Minister for Defence should say such a thing about the organisation that builds our submarines and our naval ships. What message did that send to the rest of the world about our capability as a manufacturer of these high-technology vessels? What signal did it send to our defence personnel about what our commitment is to their safety? The Minister for Defence is supposed to protect and care for defence personnel, but he is out there saying, 'You cannot trust the submarines that are being built by the Submarine Corporation.' It was a dreadful thing to say. This minister has not been able to come back from that.

I am looking forward to an answer to my question from the minister. I note that the Minister for Defence is not here, but I am sure the minister representing him will have an answer for me on what coalition senators are going to do about this very sensible amendment moved by Senator Conroy to make this omnibus repeal bill something very worthwhile for the parliament to consider. I note, as other senators have done, the requirement to put in a competitive tender process for the submarines, which should be built in South Australia. I was pleased to hear Senator Edwards say that he believes that the ships should be built in South Australia too. That is very good, but I wonder what he is doing about reinforcing that message because it has taken coalition senators quite a long time to come on board with the Labor Party and say: 'Okay. Maybe we should build these submarines in South Australia.' It has taken them quite a long time to echo what Labor senators have been saying since day one, which is that the submarines should be built in South Australia and there should be a competitive tender process to enable that to happen in the most transparent and accountable way possible. I am interested in what the minister is going to say in response to my question, although I am a little doubtful that we will see South Australian coalition senators and Independent senators agree to this amendment to the bill, which they should.

If we needed any more evidence that there should be a competitive tender process in the way envisaged in this amendment that has been moved to the bill and is being debated here today, we could refer to a number of experts who have contributed to the public debate about the Future Submarine project. Mark Thomson from ASPI is extremely well regarded on all sides of politics. He said in September this year:

The bidders can all make claims about the sorts of prices they can build the submarines for, but until you have a competition where a binding bid is placed how can you know.

That is common sense. He is not saying that the minister should decide, which is apparently what the minister, or the Prime Minister, wants to do. They want to offer this enormous project—the biggest procurement project ever in Australia—to some nation that may not be Australia. What an outrageous thing to do. There must be a proper process for this. This is the biggest procurement project ever. It will provide jobs for Australians, particularly for South Australians in my home state. When Dr John White gave evidence to the Senate Economics References Committee about this very important matter he said:

Unless there is a prize at the end and some competitive tension, the experience is that you really do not get the best offer.

That is an expert in this field saying that you have to have some kind of competitive tender process to get the best price. The government have been banging on about ensuring that they do get the best price possible for this significant project, so why wouldn't you accept this amendment that has been moved tonight to ensure that that happens in this project? Rear Admiral Peter Briggs (Retired) said:

The only way to pick it is to conduct a competitive project definition study where you can get the answers back to your top-level requirements …

I could go on and on about all those comments. The endpoint, of course, of this debate is to ensure that Australian jobs are protected and that we get the best possible submarines for our defence personnel.

In terms of protecting jobs in South Australia, I would like to reiterate what I have said on many occasions in this place: these jobs are absolutely critical to the future of South Australia. This amendment deals with skills and those skills need to be protected in my home state. A lot of the workers at the Australian Submarine Corp. that were so appallingly disparaged by the Minister for Defence had previously worked at Mitsubishi, where they were skilled workers, and then they moved to the Australian Submarine Corp. I have spoken to many of those workers and they are devastated to think that this government, despite the promises that this government made to them before the federal election, is prepared to walk away from them. They may be facing another disruption in their lives where the great jobs they have at the Australian Submarine Corporation are at threat because this minister cannot commit to Australian jobs, he cannot commit to Australian workers, he cannot commit to a competitive tender process, and he cannot commit to providing the best possible vessels for our defence personnel to work on. He has abrogated his responsibility in so many fields.

Here is an opportunity for the government and the minister to come back from that abrogation of their responsibilities. Here is an opportunity. Here is an amendment that has been moved to an otherwise fairly inconsequential repeal bill which gives all of my colleagues on this side the opportunity to support Australian jobs and Australian industry. It also gives the coalition senators from South Australia on the other side the opportunity to do that, too, and I am pleased to see that there are three of them in the chamber here tonight. I guess they have come along to put their hand up for this very sensible amendment to this otherwise reasonably inconsequential bill. Senators Birmingham, Edwards and Ruston, I look forward to seeing you with the ayes when this amendment to the bill is put at some stage in this debate.

I would urge the government to take up this opportunity provided by my colleague Senator Conroy to get behind workers in Australia. Do not spend your time dissing them by criticising them for being union members, as so many of you do. Let's think about good jobs for them, let's think about the skills they bring to Australia, and let's work collaboratively to ensure that there is a good competitive tender process that will ensure that the submarines are built in Australia—as you all promised before the last federal election. Save Steven Marshall, the Liberal opposition leader in South Australia, from having to make comments about how useless the Minister for Defence is. Get on board with this amendment and at least try and salvage some credibility as representatives of South Australia. Stand up for your state; stand up for the workers in South Australia. Here is an opportunity to do it. I look forward to seeing my coalition colleagues—and, indeed, Senator Bob Day down the back of the chamber there—actually honour their commitment to the people of South Australia, to represent them and ensure that South Australia is in the best possible position for the future. We need these submarines in South Australia. We need a good process to get these submarines in South Australia. Here is your chance, senators all around the chamber, to ensure that that happens.