Christopher Pyne: Osborne shipyard triumph with first of two Offshore Patrol Vessels

South Australians should feel deservedly proud of what their shipyard at Osborne has built – and there is more to come, writes Christopher Pyne.

Last Thursday was a great day for the Royal Australian Navy.

At Osborne Naval Shipyard, the NUSHIP Arafura was launched. The Arafura will be commissioned in the next year and will become the HMAS Arafura.

It’s an offshore patrol vessel displacing 1640 tonnes, is 80m long and 13m wide. It has accommodation for 40 crew but can service up to 60.

The Arafura is the first of 12 offshore patrol vessels being built for the Australian navy.

They will operate across the northern reaches of Australia but they are oceangoing vessels with a range of 4000 nautical miles. They will be deployed to catch illegal fishers, conduct rescue missions, protect the marine environment from incursions of exotic and unwelcome species, patrol the naval approaches to Australia and, if necessary, interdict people smugglers and customs evaders.

Of course, they are weaponised and have a highly capable military capability. Significantly, the Arafura was built in its entirety at the Osborne Naval Shipyard. The second vessel is being built there now and the next 10 will be built at the Henderson shipyard in Perth.

At ASC Osborne on Thursday, the official launch of Offshore Patrol Vessel Arafura with Commodore Steve Tiffen, currently director of general Naval Construction, with Nova Peris OAM who launched the ship, and Vice Admiral Michael Noonan, chief of Navy Australia. Picture Dean Martin

In the mid 20-teens there were no plans to build ships for the Australian navy at Osborne in Adelaide’s northwest on the Le Fevre Peninsula. If not for the decisions made by the then Abbott and Turnbull governments, the Osborne Naval Shipyard would be sitting idle but for the maintenance and full-cycle docking work of the Collins Class submarines.

Today, six years later, the Osborne Naval Shipyard has been rebuilt with modern sheds and facilities to build the nine British designed but Australian-built Hunter Class frigates.

The Air Warfare Destroyers that were built at Osborne will be refitted at the same shipyard.

The Collins Class submarine Life Of Type Extension will be carried out at Osborne. The full-cycle docking of the submarines will be done at Osborne.

There are new sheds and facilities being built at the shipyard in preparation for the Australian build of at least eight future nuclear powered submarines.

Today, the Osborne Naval Shipyard is one of the most modern and busiest shipbuilding enterprises in the world.

Australia now has a continuous naval shipbuilding industry providing literally thousands of direct jobs and many thousands more indirect ones.

Significantly, the Australian industry content in the Arafura was 63 per cent. The next ship is expected to be 65 per cent. The rule of thumb for the definition of a local build is anything over 60 per cent. Dozens and dozens of Australian businesses have benefited from building the Arafura locally.

The offshore patrol vessels program has a price tag of over $5bn and the Hunter Class frigates in today’s dollars is over $35bn.

At ASC Osborne, the official launch of OPV Arafura. Picture Dean Martin

It’s fair to say that the potential loss of engineering, science, technology and maths skills from the economy when the car industry ended in Australia has been averted. In fact, the number of STEM graduates required to service the defence industry has grown dramatically because of the shipbuilding enterprise.

The launch on Thursday was attended by the workers who built the ships. They deservedly looked as pleased as punch with their creation. They should be.

While the name offshore patrol vessel suggests a ship not nearly as big as a destroyer or frigate, in fact, they are a bigger ship than the corvettes previously used by the navy and not that much smaller than the destroyers used by the Australian navy in WWII.

Like meal sizes, everything just keeps getting bigger.

A country that is an island continent needs a capable navy. It needs a highly effective airforce and the army to fight an enemy if they ever get to our shores.

While our military is small in number, it is very advanced in terms of equipment and platforms.

They are effective in combat and extremely well maintained. Our soldiers, sailors and airmen and women are well trained and motivated.

Australian Defence Force Attaché to the Solomon Islands, Commander Mark Northcote, RAN, directs personnel from Joint Task Group 637.3 at Honiara airport on November 26, 2021.

One of the reasons the US seeks our support in military engagements around the world, in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, is not to make up the numbers, or just in order to have a coalition of like minded countries, it is because the Australian military can be relied on to undertake a mission successfully.

That’s all you want in an ally.

Just recently, we saw again, the worth of the Australian Defence Force restoring order in the Solomon Islands. Our troops were welcomed back there by the local population who know we will carry out our mission to protect life and property with a measured professionalism.

It was another reminder, that while there are other nations seeking to exert influence in the South Pacific that receive a lot of publicity and attention, it is the Australians who provided assistance to the government of the Solomon Islands, not China or Russia.

Last Thursday was a day for celebration. So it should be.

It should also be a moment to reflect on the success of the Australian manufacturing sector and to remember that government decisions can make a positive difference on many levels.