Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, we did. And, after the election, it was the Abbott government that abandoned that plan, and the result has been a decimation of the Australian shipbuilding industry under this government's watch. Overnight we have learned that another 160 jobs will be lost. These are highly skilled jobs. That is 160 jobs lost for skilled construction workers at Forgacs in Tomago. That is on top of the 450 jobs that have already been lost at Forgacs under the Abbott government, and the reports have indicated that the remaining 290 positions at Forgacs are earmarked to go by Christmas unless this government actually gets into gear and does something—takes up its responsibilities—to ensure that we have sufficient work in our shipyards.

With no work, there is no certainty. The impact of that will see the incompetence of this government demonstrated by seeing large numbers of Australian workers thrown on the scrap heap. These are highly skilled men and women. They are irreplaceable. And if it is the case in the future that we do need to rebuild the capacity in Australian shipbuilding, it will be incredibly difficult and incredibly expensive to try to replace them. The jobs of 610 workers have been lost at Forgacs in Newcastle. There have been 120 lost at ASC in Adelaide. Hundreds were lost at Williamstown. And there are hundreds more to go.

The government, in two years in power, has failed to fulfil its responsibilities and failed to live up to expectations of what it said before the election but, above all, failed to acknowledge that it has a responsibility to act. This is a government that has seen thousands more ship workers' jobs at risk because of the failure of this government to acknowledge those responsibilities. What this government needs to do is to sit down with the shipbuilding companies and with the unions and be able to work through a realistic plan to bring work forward to make sure that these yards stay open, because closing these yards will have a profound long-term consequence for the industrial capacity of this country.

Under Labor's 2013 plan, we proposed that, at a minimum, one of the two supply ships for the Navy be constructed in 2015-16 and that it be, as a minimum, a hybrid build—built part overseas and part in Australia—but that the other be built in Australia, and that we would also bring forward the Armidale Class Patrol Boat replacement with local construction. And only Labor has committed to building and maintaining 12 future submarines in Australia. That is unlike the dodgy deal that this government has already done with the Japanese, where we are in the business of building a shipyard in Japan while closing shipyards in Australia. Let us see how this government explains that at the forthcoming electoral contest. Let us see how they explain why it is they are proceeding to export Australian jobs and skills and destroy our defence capabilities—as we know from the former audit commissioner Tony Shepherd, who made it clear. Surely we have learnt something from experiences in war in this country. And we have seen from the former defence minister's claim that we could not build a canoe in this country how wrong that attitude is. We should, according to Mr Shepherd, have confidence in Australian shipbuilding. (Time expired)