Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. My question to the minister is can he update the House on the recent decisions by the government that are creating jobs and building the defence industry? How does this compare with the approaches of the past?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grey for his question. I can tell him and the House that in late June the government announced that BAE Systems Australia would build the nine antisubmarine warfare frigates at a cost of $35 billion in an Australian shipyard at Osborne, using Australian workers and Australian steel, creating jobs here in Australia, and partnering with ASC Shipbuilding, which will be hived off from the ASC submarine company. So we are creating the sovereign defence industry in shipbuilding that we promised over two years ago—a $35 billion commitment to our naval shipbuilding industry, driving highly sophisticated jobs in a high technology industry, which would never have happened if the Labor Party had remained in power. The last naval ship to ever have been built in this country would have been the HMAS Sydney,which rolled off the line this year as the third of the air warfare destroyers.

The Turnbull government is investing in our defence industry, creating jobs all around Australia. BAE has already prequalified over 550 companies, small and medium enterprises, in their supply chain around Australia. It's a national project: 160 of those companies are in Victoria, 80 of them are in Western Australia, 100 are in South Australia, 57 are in Queensland, seven are in the Northern Territory, eight are in Tasmania, and about 126 are in New South Wales—so spread right around the country. There are 4,000 jobs directly in the project and in the direct supply chain.

This is a transformative project for our manufacturing sector. Companies around the country represented in coalition electorates have been prequalified by BAE: Wayout Evacuation Systems in Dunkley, who manufacture specialised signage equipment; SLCE Watermakers Australia, who manufacture reverse osmosis machines, in the seat of Brisbane; Advanced Focus, who provide advisory services on manufacturing processes, in Boothby; and Owen International, who provide specialist equipment like flares, landing aid systems and video imaging systems, in North Sydney. So this story is endless—one Australian SME after another being part of the national security of the country, being part of the defence of the nation, building the regionally superior antisubmarine warfare frigate, the Hunter class project here in Australia, creating Australian jobs, using Australian steel, in an Australian shipyard, protecting our nation now and into the future.