Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The shipbuilding industry in Newcastle dates back some 185 years to the 1830s, when steamers were built for the growing colony. Today the most recent build has been the Navy's three Air Warfare Destroyers, with 37 of the 93 blocks required being built at the Forgacs yards in Carrington and Tomago. Sadly it looks as though this proud history will end soon. Last night news broke that Forgacs had been forced to lay off another 160 workers. That is nearly half of its remaining workforce, taking the total job losses under this government to 610. These are highly skilled men and women who have been entrusted with building our naval ships, working in shipyards that have been building our ferries, icebreakers, transports and naval ships for generations.

At its peak, just two years ago, the Forgacs workforce was close to 1,000. By the end of this year it may be zero. Let me make this clear at the outset: Forgacs has been forced into this position of letting hundreds of jobs go because the Abbott Liberal government has done nothing to support our vital shipbuilding industry since being elected nearly two years ago. They have broken promises. They have sent work off shore, locking Australian companies out of valuable contracts. They have delayed tenders. They have stalled and blamed rather than act with purpose.

In August 2013, before the last election, the now-dumped defence minister, Senator Johnston, told ABC Newcastle that he wanted to keep defence manufacturing in Australia. He said, 'I get really fired up when I find us giving away our manufacturing base in the defence space to foreign manufacturers; it's just not on.' This is the same man who said in Adelaide that an Abbott Liberal government would indeed build 12 submarines required by the Navy here in Australia. My neighbour the member for Paterson was in the media yesterday blaming Labor for the job losses at Forgacs—the same man who has not dared to utter the words 'shipbuilding' or 'Forgacs' in this 44th parliament, not even while he was the parliamentary secretary for industry. The silence is deafening.

The workers of Forgacs and the other shipbuilders, BAE and ASC, need strong leadership and support from the government. But this Abbott Liberal government has consistently failed them. The shipbuilding industry is dying a slow and agonising death right before our eyes. The workers of Forgacs who are losing their jobs do not need excuses. They need work. They need a future. The last two defence white papers clearly mapped out Australia's need for more than 40 new ships. The Prime Minister must act immediately to provide certainty for the shipbuilding industry and its workers and secure Australia's sovereign shipbuilding capacity for generations to come. It is time for this government to commit to a long-term rolling build of our naval ships in Australia. There is no time to waste.