Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Batman. Last year the Minister for Defence, Senator Johnston, said on 8 May 2013: 'We will deliver those submarines from right here at ASC in South Australia.' He said, 'The coalition today is committed to building 12 new submarines here in Adelaide.' It was no slip of the tongue. It was said very deliberately, because the submarine contract mattered to South Australia in the period leading up to the election. It was indeed a key South Australian federal election issue. The minister at the time knew that and made that commitment in order to try to win votes in South Australia.

It is interesting, as we debate this, that there is not a South Australian Liberal member of parliament here in the chamber to support the workers of South Australia. I remind those South Australian federal Liberal MPs that we on this side of the House will remind the voters of South Australia—right through to the next election—about the commitment made by Minister Johnston in 2013. They can rest assured of that. We will remind them, because it is another broken promise of the Abbott government for South Australia.

On top of having had the auto industry shafted, South Australians see this issue as even more important now than it was in 2013. The Abbott government is now trying to shift the promise from 'We will build the submarines in South Australia,' to 'The work will be centred around South Australia.' We heard the word 'centred' used by the Prime Minister today in answer to a question from me and others on this side of the House.

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