Innes Willox says we cannot afford to look back in a decade and see our shipbuilding industry has gone through another valley of death

Enough of the delays. Enough of the dithering. Decisions have been made and the time for action on our shipbuilding is now writes Innes Willox.

2/11/2023 Innes Willox during the Economic & Social Outlook Conference in Melbourne. Aaron Francis / The Australian

It is the hope of industry that the Federal Government’s newly released surface fleet strategy will provide much greater certainty and consistency for big parts of Australian defence industry but successful implementation is critical.

Past struggles in managing shipbuilding projects underline the urgency for effective project delivery. In increasingly challenging times, our national security depends on it.

Enough of the reviews. Enough of the delays. Enough of the dithering. Decisions have been made and the time for action is now. We cannot afford to look back in a decade from now and see that our shipbuilding industry has gone through another valley of death, that we haven’t developed the skills we need to deliver and that we don’t actually have functioning ships on the water.

The starting point of this national endeavour should be a shared understanding that we cannot have the genuine national security we crave without the

industrial security of a sovereign defence industry that both builds and sustains our defence assets.

As we navigate the complexities of the Australian defence landscape and the evolving Indo-Pacific strategic challenges, it is imperative that defence industry is provided with clear capability forecasts, a funding pipeline and the appropriate resources to implement this major restructure of our surface fleet.

The real work begins now. The reimagining of our naval capabilities comes amid criticism that Canberra was too slow to react to the dire warnings contained in the Defence Strategic Review.

Innes Willox during the Economic & Social Outlook Conference in Melbourne. Aaron Francis, The Australian

The Federal Government needs to use its own firepower to put the proverbial rocket up Defence which has taken too long to get to this point. At the same time it needs to match its words with appropriate funding potentially beyond the additional $1.7 bn over the forward estimates and $11.1 bn over the next decade.

It needs to be prepared to allocate more funding to build more capability if that is required as our security and geo-political circumstances change. If the worst comes to pass, we need our warfighters to be given every opportunity to win.

An important aspect of this new plan is the estimated 3700 direct jobs that will be supported in South Australia and Western Australia into the 2040s, with a continuous pipeline of shipbuilding established in both locations.

However, the decision to scale back the Hunter Class program will be challenging for some in the industry. The reduction in the number of Hunter frigates raises concerns, particularly regarding the need for certainty and consistency in South Australia to deliver the pipeline of work.

A further challenge will be that the initial purchase of ‘Tier 2’ ships will be built overseas and will require transition to an Australian-build. This will need to be carefully managed to ensure the engagement of Australian supply chains throughout the process.

The announcement in the review that a shipbuilding forecast will be issued biennially with the National Defence Strategy is welcome. The first of these will be released in tandem with the Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Plan, and Ai Group and our members up and down the supply chain look forward to working with the Government on these important initiatives.

Defence industry needs to be embedded in our national industrial framework. We’ve seen how other nations like Germany, Sweden, Israel, France and Canada successfully do it. Our national success depends on us getting this right.