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

Thank you to the member for Hunter, talking about the great wines from his electorate. I suppose I'd just make the point that as the member for Sturt I of course have Magill Estate in the centre of my electorate, where Max Schubert made the iconic Grange Hermitage, so we know a little bit about good wine in my electorate as well! But I love the wines of the Hunter. I don't think we need to be competitive. You yourself, Deputy Speaker Archer, probably have some views on the beautiful Tasmanian wines made in your electorate as well. So, aren't we lucky—the things to be fighting about: who makes the best wine in their electorate!

I am greatly concerned about some of the reports in the media recently around the Hunter frigate program, the type 26, which of course is already in the beginnings of construction in Adelaide. This is the decision that was made in 2015. I was there for the announcement by then defence minister Kevin Andrews, who came to Adelaide. I wasn't the member for Sturt at the time, but I was there in a different capacity for the announcement that Adelaide would be building nine frigates—the Future Frigate Program, as it was known at the time. Indeed, I was also there for the announcement in 2018 by my now predecessor, the Hon. Christopher Pyne, who announced that BAE was the successful construction partner for those nine frigates in Adelaide. I travelled to London the next week and up to Govan, which is just outside Glasgow in Scotland and is where BAE have their famous shipyard. It is building what they call the type 26 for the Royal Navy, which is the base design for the Hunter frigate program.

Ever since that announcement in 2018—five years ago—there's never been any suggestion that that program in any way was in jeopardy. Indeed, at times there have been media reports around issues to do with design, which is very common when it comes to acquisition of capability, particularly—well, I was about to say surface vessels, but frankly, given the trauma of submarine acquisition, I might just say all vessels and boats on the surface and under the surface. But it is extremely concerning that we are seeing fairly well credentialled background briefings coming out of the defence department or sector, depending on the articles, that there is a cloud over the program. Frankly, it's frightening. It's frightening for, firstly, the capability of the Royal Australian Navy and the fact that we need to replace our frigates. The Anzac frigates have served us well, but we absolutely need that Future Frigate Program, and that's been identified for more than a decade now. So, it is frightening if there's a question mark over it from a naval capability point of view and a national security point of view. But it is doubly frightening to the people of Adelaide if it indeed means that the program to build those nine vessels in South Australia is in jeopardy.

Now, I'm not trying to scaremonger, and I don't necessarily believe that the reports that the program is being completely reconsidered could possibly be true. But we do know that the Defence strategic review recommended another review, which was a review into surface ship capability requirements for the Navy, and the major program for surface vessels is the nine frigates. We've built the air warfare destroyers in South Australia, and they will serve the Navy well for some time to come. In fact, a major mast upgrade program to those three air warfare destroyers is happening in South Australia in the years ahead. The only program that the review could be targeted at is the future Hunter class frigate program—the nine frigates. There are suggestions that there is reconsideration of whether nine will be built. There are all kind of rumours, and that scares the people of South Australia, and particularly people in the shipbuilding industry.

We've had a lot of turmoil in the past decade. We had the valley of death when, under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, not a single new major capital vessel was commissioned for the Navy. When the coalition came to government in 2013 those decisions hadn't been taken. We've obviously had the exciting opportunity to acquire nuclear propelled submarines, which is a decision well worth the issue of exiting a previously entered-into contract with the French to build 12 conventional submarines. The last thing we need for the defence industry in South Australia right now is any turmoil around the Hunter class frigate program. I was at the steel cutting of the first prototypes out at the Osborne South shipyard. That was more than a year ago, and there have been some very significant milestone events around that program. It is, to all intents and purposes, progressing through construction—steel cutting and the like. There have been issues with weight, with range and with speed. Frankly, all those three are linked. The heavier the vessel, the slower it is and the more fuel it needs to go the same distance. We respect and understand the challenges around the design.

What I really am concerned about is any consideration of scrapping or walking away from that program or of going back to square one, and the government needs to take the first opportunity to rule this out. There are thousands of jobs that are being counted on not just at the shipyard, where the primary workforce comprises a lot of jobs, but also in the supply into that, where the jobs are even more significant. There have been a lot of decisions made by businesses who have progressed with confidence that that program was progressing, and the uncertainty that has been created through some of the media leaks is very concerning.

It has been the case that there were leaks out of the Defence Strategic Review, around vehicles and other things, that subsequently proved to be extremely accurate. If there's a strategy of using the media to soften the blow of a decision to reconsider the Hunter class frigate program, then that is not the way to break it to the people of South Australia. We want any spectre of walking away from the program and the investment in the program to be completely ruled out by the government. We want certainty around the program and around the jobs related to the program because, in South Australia, all of the shipbuilding programs are starting to look like they're always on the horizon. Some of the information coming from the update to the AUKUS deal in the last few months is concerning, around when actual jobs will be in place in Adelaide—now that the first three submarines will be acquired; what work is occurring in Barrow-in-Furness; whether or not the Albanese government is making sure that all the jobs on the submarines that we will be constructing in Adelaide will be guaranteed to be here. We're spending a lot of money on helping other people build submarines for us. The last thing we need is questions around what's happening with the surface frigates as well. Any form of delay will cost jobs to the South Australian economy.

The leaks need to stop. The speculation needs to be addressed. We need certainty and commitment around the program. It would be good to get some further detail, from an economy and jobs point of view, and when economic activity and investment will be occurring in the South Australian economy under AUKUS, as well. The last thing we want to see in South Australia is any form of equivocation or reconsideration of the important commitment to producing nine frigates in Adelaide. That is an enduring commitment that needs to be honoured by the new government. They need to rule out and put an end to this speculation and stop the leaks coming out of Defence. We need certainty, our industry needs it and, most importantly, the people of South Australia need it because we are counting on the economic activity that has been promised for our economy in Adelaide.