Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

This morning I rise to share the concerns of Western Australian industry in relation to the complete lack of transparency provided by the government in relation to local content. We know that there are grave fears that Western Australia could be missing out on billions of dollars of work under this significant contract, and that is because foreign bidders have not been required to partner with Australian industry. We know that the tender documents for the $35 billion frigate program showed that short-listed foreign defence companies did not have to include Australian businesses in their proposals. We've heard significant concerns reported in TheWest Australian after conversations with Austal. Austal partnered with the ASC, which is, of course, the government's own defence shipbuilding contractor, to get a major share of the future frigate contracts. But these contracts—indeed, the nature of the tender process—is threatening the viability of this industry and export industries and thousands of jobs that Western Australia desperately needs.

We are very well skilled and ready to do this kind of work. We've had a major construction and mining boom, and the people of Western Australia have the skills. We also have high levels of unemployment in these regions. We are ready to do this work. We have significant infrastructure in Henderson, which means we're well placed, and the companies have the expertise, to do it. The simple fact is that the government are not even living up to their weasel words and rhetoric around local content. Austal's Chief Executive Officer, David Singleton, said, 'When the RFT—request for tender—came out, that was really the end of that engagement between us and those companies'—the companies bidding on the tender. He said at the time, 'There was something about the RFT that seemed to draw foreign shipbuilders away from continuing dialogue with ourselves.'

So it strikes me that there is good reason for the Senate to be concerned about the failure to produce all of these documents. We know that there were three companies bidding in this process. The government needs to be focused on choosing homegrown, world-class, steel shipbuilding industries here in Australia. I contend that Western Australia, as well as South Australia, will get a raw deal if the federal government is not fair and transparent and does not make good on its local content provisions.

Question agreed to.