Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President Sterle, today I rise to talk about something that is desperately needed in our own home state of Western Australia—upgrades to the Henderson industrial precinct. Western Australia has a very long and a very proud history of supporting our nation's defence and defence industry, both in times of peace and of war. Today we have world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities supported by training and upskilling in using the latest defence technologies.

The Henderson maritime precinct, 23 kilometres south of Perth, is home to some of the most innovative defence supply companies and workforces, particularly related to shipbuilding and maintenance. The Australian Marine Complex and its common user facility was an initiative of the state government, and, in 2003, was funded by the federal government. At the time, it was 'build it and we hope they will come', and industry has certainly come over the proceeding 20 years. But it is time for this facility to get a much-needed upgrade to turn it into a world-leading facility. Sadly, the WA state government is doing what it does best—contemplating an issue, conducting a review, then conducting another review, and then doing absolutely nothing. It is now time to get into gear. We know what needs to be done, and it now just needs to be done.

For those of you not aware of Henderson: since opening in mid-2003 the Australian Marine Complex has generated more than 21,000 direct jobs and delivered projects worth billions of dollars. It has almost single-handedly facilitated the fabrication of millions of tonnes of goods and manufactured goods, particularly for our oil and gas sector, in the north-west. Since 2017 I have been taking many state and federal colleagues, ministers and prime ministers to Henderson to see just what our state is capable of and is delivering.

While Henderson didn't make its way into the 2016 white paper officially as the second major shipbuilding facility in Australia, we managed to remedy that—although it didn't quite make the white paper. The precinct itself is made up of a unique mix of agreements between the Western Australian state government, the federal government and defence industry companies, including BAE, Austal and our industrial powerhouse, Civmec. It's home to around 150 other businesses in five designated zones—shipbuilding, technology, support industry, fabrication and a recreational boating precinct. But it is bursting at the seams and desperately now needs Latitude 32 to be developed by the state government, which has sat on it for five years, so that we have a much-increased capacity to develop our logistics, freight and supply and manufacturing supports not only to the shipbuilding sector but also to our mining, oil and gas sectors.

Western Australia's naval shipbuilding industry is going from strength to strength, largely off the back of the coalition government's investment in 70 new naval ships to be built in Australia. The shipbuilding precinct itself is located on the beautiful Western Australia coast, overlooking Garden Island and HMAS Stirling. The Anzac class frigates are currently, and have been for a number of years, up-going their mid-life cycle capability assurance program. It is quite an impressive sight to see three of our Anzacs up on the dry dock itself, being maintained.

But that's not all. We've also got Austal shipyards, who have built hundreds of vessels both here in Australia and overseas. They are currently in the process of delivering, at any one time, up to five Guardian class patrol boats and also the Cape class patrol boats for the Navy. Their vessels are on schedule and they are complete to deliver a further five in coming months. In total, 21 Guardian class patrol boats are scheduled to be built. Again, production is well underway and delivery is also well underway.

At the Australian Marine Complex, the state government owns and runs the common user facility and most of the key infrastructure, such as wharves, the floating dock, the self-propelled modular transporters and vessel transfers. There are very longstanding and well-documented deficiencies and infrastructure challenges, which are now becoming a considerable constraint to industry in the area. All of these have been known for a long time. But, again, we have the minister and the Premier in Western Australia constantly saying they're ready for business and they want more from Navy and from civil companies, but they are not providing the facilities that are required to keep growing the industry in Western Australia.

What sorts of things need to be done? In May 2018, I started a very constructive three-way dialogue with the state minister Paul Papalia and the then defence industry minister Christopher Pyne on how the federal and state governments can work together to transform this remarkable precinct. That was in 2018. Not only did we talk about what was required but I also sent correspondence to both ministers. We had a very amicable and agreeable exchange, and we agreed on what was required to be done.

The McGowan government did agree, back then in 2018, that a failure to upgrade state infrastructure would limit the chances to take advantage of emerging opportunities which are well and truly with us now. The state is now in danger of losing a number of these projects because they simply have not provided the infrastructure. In November 2020, the McGowan government released two planning studies and allocated just under $90 million for four projects to fund some of the major works there, but they were still not the majority of works that were needed.

In the correspondence with Chris Pyne and Paul Papalia at the time, in 2018, I went through and we agreed on the priorities. The priorities that I saw were the mapping and establishment of a high- and wide-load corridor and the sinking of overhead powerlines that were clearly restricting access for oversized freight. The local and regional road network needed upgrades to support efficient and safe access to the precinct now and in the future. Anybody who drives through the Henderson precinct at change of shift hours will know just how congested and dangerous those roads are.

Traffic signals at all dangerous intersections need to be either put in or upgraded. Workers find it incredibly difficult if they don't have a car to get in and out of the area. The Thornlie to Cockburn rail line will improve accessibility, but the problem is that it is still kilometres away from the Henderson precinct. For four years the state government is going to be putting in new bus routes from there and the Fremantle railway so that we can get apprentices and workers in and out of that area efficiently.

There is also a pressing strategic need for a second shipping channel to both the Australian Marine Complex and, in particular, HMAS Stirling, which is a state government responsibility. In fact, the work had started under the previous Liberal government, but it has not proceeded. That is not only a strategic barrier for any visiting submarines and ships to HMAS Stirling; it is also a significant constraint just having one channel. Again, it's been delayed and delayed and delayed.

We know what needs to be done at Henderson. The state government had a nearly $10 million study paid for by the federal government when I was Minister for Defence. It said exactly the same things that we did in 2018 about what needed to be done. A very good master plan has been developed with the federal government and the WA state government with defence, yet again they simply will not act. I don't know why. Again, it is review, review. They've got the money. They've got the plan. We know what we need to do not only to attract defence for the next few decades but also to expand the other industries there.

Finally, I'm also incredibly concerned that the Albanese Labor government in their first budget was silent on what has happened to the $4.3 billion that the previous government allocated for a large-vessel dry berth at Henderson, and it's time for the federal government to come clean. (Time expired)