Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Defence. Would the minister update the House on the status of the ADI munitions factory at Mulwala?

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for her question. She has a very intense interest in defence and local issues in her community. In 1942—which is arguably the most important year in Australia’s history since European settlement—as the battle for Australia raged through New Guinea and the Pacific, the then Australian government made a decision to build a propellent factory at Mulwala on the Murray River. That propellent factory, essentially producing and manufacturing the explosive materials for our munitions, has for more than 60 years produced propellents for Australia so that we can be independent. Under no circumstances would Australia accept the position of fully importing our own ammo.

There are some in Australia who argue that Australia should close this factory, which is ageing, and instead import propellents from other parts of the world. The members for Farrer, Indi and Murray stood up very firmly for their communities, supported by the Prime Minister, and argued that the government should instead rebuild the propellent factory at Mulwala. To that end, some $300 million will be directly invested with Bovis Lend Lease to build the propellent factory. The Public Works Committee of the parliament will shortly consider the project. We expect to sign an agreement with the company in the first half of next year, and the graders and bulldozers will be in there early in 2008 to rebuild the factory.

I say to the 320 people who are employed at the ADI factory at Mulwala: your jobs and your families who rely upon those jobs are safe and secure. As for the 350 people in the communities who rely also on the factory, their jobs are secure, and the 300 people who work at Benalla building munitions from those propellents, their jobs also are secure. As the Albury-Wodonga Border Mail put it on Friday:

For the residents of Yarrawonga and Mulwala …

…            …            …

Yesterday’s announcement will provide much comfort to the two towns, as well as to Wangaratta, Benalla and centres in between.

And when the work actually starts there will be a further massive spin-off to the local economy.

In fact, there will be 200 people employed on the project itself. The paper said:

The announcement is a tribute to the effort put in to saving the … plant by the district.

I particularly give credit to the member for Farrer, the member for Indi and the member for Murray.