Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. When hundreds of defence industry workers at Osborne in Adelaide have lost their jobs—and there are reports of another 34 job losses announced today—why on earth is the government sending hull fabrication jobs to France, instead of keeping them here in Australia on the future submarines?

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank you for the question. There are 4,000 jobs in shipbuilding at this point in time. We need 15,000 shipbuilding jobs. Once again, we will not be lectured to by those opposite. There are 4,000 jobs now and we need 15,000 jobs. We're working very hard to ensure that we have the skill set in this country to ensure we have the sovereign capability. We will build those 12 submarines in Australia. We will build the workforce that we need.