Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

I can only take it from your actions that you are as deeply concerned about the lack of action of the Abbott government as I am and as the other Labor senators from South Australia are.

Why are we concerned? Firstly because there is no evidence that the Abbott government understands the problems of the shipbuilding industry. They see it as a South Australian issue. We have seen how they treated Holden, we have seen how they treated component manufacturing, we have seen how they have refused to come to the aid of the mining industry to open up Woomera. There is a pattern of behaviour here of lack of concern for manufacturing. Here we have some of the most skilled workers in the country—highly paid but skilled workers—building our ships and improving our national security.

It is important from the point of view of national security. We have seen over the last few days how quickly things can change in a country. Two weeks ago there was no issue in Ukraine. In the last couple of days we have seen a change in government there and we have seen what appears to be a breach of Ukraine's territory by another country. Things can change very quickly, so we need a strong defence industry. The investment in the Collins class submarines started that process. We were continuing it with the air-warfare destroyers. Former Prime Minister Rudd was able to go down to Techport and make an announcement about future projects to keep shipbuilding in this country going.

What do we see with the Abbott government? We see inaction. Nothing is happening. The people in the defence shipbuilding industry in South Australia that I have been speaking with and that have an interest in this are mightily concerned that if this government simply waits for their white paper to deal with this issue, it is going to be too late.

Let us look back over the last few weeks. On 25 February the CEO of BAE, Mr Allott, said that Williamstown in Victoria is under threat and that unless there is some announcement of future shipbuilding they are going to start laying off people next year. On 27 February, Mr Lindsay Stratton, the CEO of Forgacs, said they are going to be laying off 300 people and will be shut by next year.

We simply cannot wait for decisions on this issue. We cannot wait for this government's inaction. We saw their inaction under Holden; we saw their inaction under Toyota and we saw their inaction on Woomera just weeks ago. We cannot afford any more inaction.

What Senator Carr says is, I think, a very thoughtful resolution. What is his answer to this? He calls on the government to immediately do three things. Firstly, fast-track and make public its commitment to a revised time frame for tendering and delivery. This will provide an opportunity for all the companies involved in the manufacture of these terrific ships to come forward with proposals, and I might add that there are a lot of them—there are 1,025 suppliers who, just in this year alone, have provided $126 million worth of business. They have skills training and university courses to ensure that people have the requisite skills. Of course, we also have the Maritime Skills Centre, which contributes to all of these supply companies, ensuring we have the highest skills and best possible manufacturing.

The second thing Senator Carr says we need to do is not wait for the Defence white paper process. We have to have a decision now. We cannot wait.