James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to inform the House of two very significant developments in the naval shipbuilding industry in my home state of South Australia that I was associated with last Friday. The first, of course, was the handing over of HMAS Sydney, which is the final air warfare destroyer that was built by the AWD Alliance at the Osborne shipyards in South Australia. The defence minister and Chief of Navy were there to mark that very happy occasion—in some ways sad, because of course it's the end of the program's life, but at the same time we all know there's a lot of exciting future for the shipbuilding industry in South Australia, and it is with a great sense of pride for all South Australians that we've delivered three impeccable vessels to the Royal Australian navy. The Sydney, beyond question, is now considered the most potent and lethal asset in the RAN's very impressive suite of capabilities.

Secondly, having the defence minister in town, I was lucky to attend with her the milestone of the 200th employee at Naval Group Australia's headquarters—not in my electorate actually, on Richmond Road. This program and that business are going to have an enormous impact on the broader Adelaide, South Australian and Australian economy well into the future. It was great to be there with Minister Reynolds and the Premier of South Australia to be part of marking that occasion. There are 200 employees now working onsite there at their corporate headquarters on Richmond Road. But that, of course, is just a very small component of what that workforce is going to grow to over the years ahead. With that, coupled with the Hunter class program, which is the Future Frigate program, we're going to see thousands of jobs created in South Australia, thanks to these very important decisions that the coalition government has made in recent years to have a continuous shipbuilding program as a sovereign capability for our nation, centred out of Adelaide. It is something that's going to benefit the entire economy of our nation.

It's very important that, as these programs are rolled out and the people are employed, the skills are developed, and the infrastructure is put in place, we never forget that it's the coalition that is creating this sovereign capability. Under Labor no vessels were commissioned in the six years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era. Now, we have got towards 50 being constructed across the four programs, added in with the offshore patrol vessels and the Pacific Patrol Boats. I'm very proud to be a part of a team that is investing in our defence capability and our national security and is also recognising that we can have at the same time an amazing industry outcome, a manufacturing outcome. We now have centred in Adelaide an unbelievable ability to provide for our national security well into the future.