Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me pleasure to pay tribute to Cairns businessman Justin Parer, managing director of BSE Maritime Solutions. Mr Parer's name has been synonymous with Cairns' marine industry for more than two decades now. Justin built BSE Maritime Solutions up to be one of our city's biggest shipyards and a maritime maintenance powerhouse. Justin has been a tireless and passionate supporter of the Cairns marine industry through his advocacy across both state and federal governments, with the express aim of putting Cairns' marine precinct on the map. He has certainly achieved that in spades.

Last month, Justin decided to call time and sell his company to global shipbuilder Austal. Austal, a tier 1 contractor, was recently awarded with a $324 million contract to build an additional six Cape class vessels. This is on top of the 12 OPVs currently under construction. This acquisition now provides Austal with a dockyard and ship-lifting capacity in north-eastern Australia, including the word's second-largest mobile boat hoist. Austal's CEO, David Singleton, has confirmed the Cairns slipway will support existing contracts, including the 21 Guardian patrol boats built for the 13 Pacific nations. This places our city on the cusp of jobs in a maritime maintenance boom—one whose occurrence Justin played a significant role in ensuring. I say thank you very much, Justin, for a job well done.