Future Frigates: Port traders hope their ship comes in

JUST three minutes down the road from Techport, Taperoo’s Red Deli is reliant on hungry ASC shipbuilders to make ends meet. They should be in plentiful supply soon.

• From Valley of Death to land of promise

JUST three minutes down the road from Techport, Taperoo’s Red Deli is reliant on hungry ASC shipbuilders to make ends meet.

Owner Theresa Ngo said she’d been waiting for the winning Future Frigates tenderer to be announced and hoped the new workforce would bolster her business.

“Hopefully it makes it busier,” she said.

“If there’s more workers, if someone doesn’t come, someone else does.”

In Semaphore, Sweet Amber Brew Cafe’s Dane Adkins said “quite a few” ASC workers flocked into his beer garden during the summer months.

He welcomed anything that further livened up Semaphore’s main street, but wasn’t sure if the Frigates contract was enough to transform Adelaide’s entire northwest in the long-term.

“Any improvement with the current state of the economy is a good thing,” Mr Adkins said.

“It just depends what it brings. If it just brings workers down for a few years and then they leave again, that’s not a sustainable model.”

Sweet Amber has been in Semaphore for three years and opened a brewery in Regency Park this year.

Infographics on the frigate announcement, to be designed by BAE Systems and built by ASC Shipbuilding. Supplied government

Semaphore Pantry owner Andrea Matthews was also hopeful the start of the Future Frigates program in 2020 would boost her business.

“With Techport being so close, people might be looking for accommodation as well,” Ms Matthews said.

Port Adelaide Enfield Mayor Gary Johanson said people would be “dancing in the streets” in Port Adelaide.

“This is the news we’ve been waiting for, for forever really,” Mr Johanson said.

“The Port has really been in limbo since the end of containerisation and it needed a key economic driver – and this is it.

“This will ensure that not only this generation, but future generations will have the opportunity to live, work and play in the Port.”

Supplied Editorial Future frigate

Flinders University Professor John Spoehr said the Future Frigates program would provide a “real boost” to the local economy and help to ease last year’s closure of Holden’s Elizabeth factory.

“We focus a lot on the direct employment impacts, but there’s no doubt it will have significant multiplier impacts for northwest Adelaide and the city of Adelaide,” Professor Spoehr said

Port Adelaide Labor MP Susan Close said there was a huge buzz in Port Adelaide because of the coming employment opportunities and tourism potential.

“A lot of people in the area have for a long time worked in a maritime area and lost their jobs, but it’s great that it’s now an area where people are finding jobs again,” Dr Close said.

Yolette and Brodie Gale with daughters Pepper, 11, Cedar and Bonnie, 9, (side ponytail) in front of their Exeter Home.Picture: AAP/Emma Brasie

On target for a housing boom

BUILDING nine of Australia’s next-generation frigates in SA has the power to revitalise the entire LeFevre Peninsula, a local real estate agent says.

Raine & Horne Semaphore’s Kate Smith said the announcement was the good news the area needed.

She said the deal to build the Future Submarines, as well as a plan to build 650 home at Port Adelaide’s Dock One, would also help transform the region.

“When the recent submarines announcement was made we saw an increase in interest at that point from Sydney and Melbourne,” she said.

“I would expect that we’ll see that continued inquiry from interstate investors and probably locals looking to invest in the area they live in.

“People that live locally appreciate the area and see a lot of positives in it, but up until now it’s been hard to convince people from outside the area of that. These types of announcements give confidence to buyers and investors that it is an area that they should be looking in.”

Mrs Smith said the flow-on effects would be felt throughout the region.

“If you consider our proximity to the beach, Semaphore’s already in big demand, and we’re already seeing an increase to areas like Birkenhead, Peterhead, Port Adelaide and adjacent suburbs, and I think this will continue to fuel that,” Ms Smith said.

Exeter residents Yolette and Bodie Gale said they were excited about yesterday’s announcement.

“We do know a lot of people who work there and to hear their jobs are secure and there will be hopefully new employment for other people, it’s going to help the area, local businesses, real estate and everything,” Ms Gale said.

“We’d love for our kids to grow up in this area - we bought an investment property in the area last year to hopefully help them get a head start into staying in the area when they grew up.”