Christopher Pyne: Shipbuilding enterprise will be a big driver of change that will transition the city
The Coalition Government’s shipbuilding enterprise will be a big driver of change that will transition the city, says Christopher Pyne.
Opinion
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The great city of Adelaide is not standing still but what will the city look like in 10, 20, 30 years’ time?
The Coalition Government’s shipbuilding enterprise will be a big driver of change that will transition the city.
The Osborne Naval Shipyard is where our $50 billion Attack class submarines, the $35 billion Hunter class frigates, as well as two Arafura class offshore patrol vessels will be built. Construction of the facilities for these immense projects is already underway, creating thousands of jobs.
The state’s shipbuilding industry and workforce is set to flourish for decades to come thanks to the Coalition government’s historic shipbuilding investment. The Coalition Government has bridged the shipbuilding valley of death left by the previous Labor government.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) forecasts 8000 jobs will be created in South Australia as a result of our continuous shipbuilding program, with 4000 extra workers in the next decade at Osborne Naval Shipyard.
PwC also point out in their CityPulse Adelaidereport that “adding thousands of extra workers and businesses accessing the area without providing transport infrastructure, will put the region under significant additional pressure”.
This is paramount.
We not only have to provide new workers with the right skills to build these enormous, complex vessels, we also need to attract the men and women to work at the Osborne Naval Shipyard.
The Coalition Government has established the Naval Shipbuilding College to deliver the skills and training to grow Australia’s shipbuilding workforce and we need the infrastructure to deliver the workers to the shipyards. It is important that potential recruits to the shipbuilding workforce are not deterred because it is too difficult to get to work.
If you go to the Osborne Naval Shipyard at shift change, you’ll witness what has already been informally dubbed “the Clipsal”, as hundreds of workers leave at the same time, on the same road.
Victoria Rd is currently the only road to access the Osborne Naval Shipyard and businesses on the Lefevre Peninsula.
It will need to accommodate thousands of additional cars each day as the future naval ship builds — the Attack-class submarines and the Hunter-class frigates — ramp up.
An option that has to be considered is to build a bridge to link Adelaide’s Northern suburbs with the northern part of the peninsula that is home to the Osborne Naval Shipyard. This will take pressure off Victoria Rd and improve the accessibility greatly to this expanding part of the city. This would also support the many businesses on the peninsula and give them the opportunity to capitalise on increased through-traffic, help them retain and grow their customer base as well as creating opportunity for new business to support the increased workforce population.
The Lefevre Peninsula is surrounded on three sides by water with access only from the south.
A worker who lives in Salisbury North, for example, would need to drive about 25km first to the South and around the Port River, before driving North from Port Adelaide to the Osborne Naval Shipyard.
With access by bridge to the North of the Lefevre Peninsula, this trip could be reduced to about 15km, saving that worker up to 100km of travel a week. That’s less money to be spent on petrol, less time to be spent in the car and more time to be spent at home or elsewhere with family and friends.
The Government’s $90 billion shipbuilding endeavour will provide a significant boost to our naval capability, create thousands of jobs for decades to come, and change where large numbers of people will live and work in Adelaide.
It will give us a stronger navy, country and city. A bridge connecting Adelaide’s north to the Lefevre Peninsula would open up our city.
This would be one vital infrastructure project to make the Osborne Naval Shipyard and its surrounds a more attractive place to work, and Adelaide’s north a more attractive place to live.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE IS THE FEDERAL DEFENCE MINISTER AND LIBERAL MEMBER FOR STURT
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