Christopher Pyne declares war on ‘armchair’ detractors of SA’s shipbuilding bonanza

DEFENCE Industry Minister Christopher Pyne today will launch a retaliatory attack on politicians offering “armchair critiques” of the state’s multibillion-dollar shipbuilding bonanza.

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DEFENCE Industry Minister Christopher Pyne today will launch a retaliatory attack on politicians offering “armchair critiques” of the state’s multibillion-dollar shipbuilding bonanza.

In a veiled salvo at popular Senator Nick Xenophon and Premier Jay Weatherill, Mr Pyne will tell an Adelaide lunch the state will reap a bounty of benefits from the $90 billion submarine and surface vessel construction centred on Osborne’s shipyard.

“These opportunities will have a life measured in decades, in generations — infinitely longer than those whose misinformed postulations struggle to survive in the media cycle for more than a few hours at a time, yet keep on coming,” Mr Pyne, also the Sturt MP, will declare.

“These people claim to be the only politicians South Australians can trust, yet all they offer are armchair critiques and endless variations on the old states-versus-Canberra blame game.”

Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne. Picture: AAP

Senator Xenophon this month accused the Federal Government of a secret vendetta to kill off ASC and thousands of SA jobs, arguing a secret tender document for the $35 billion future frigates project deliberately excluded the Osborne-based shipbuilder’s workforce.

Mr Weatherill has accused Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his ministers of repeatedly coming to SA and bagging the state, particularly over energy.

In his speech to an AmCham lunch, Mr Pyne declares Osborne’s workforce remains critical to continuous naval shipbuilding plans.