Spanish shipbuilders Navantia promises 7000 jobs if chosen for $30 billion Future Frigates in Adelaide, urges Government to start
EXCLUSIVE: A defence industry chief says 7000 jobs will be created if its proposal for the $30 billion Future Frigates is chosen, and has urged the Federal Government to get on with the job.
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DEFENCE industry chief Warren King will tonight call on the Federal Government to get on with warship building.
Mr King — the former Defence procurement boss who has about five decades in the industry under his belt — says the Government must make fast decisions to save jobs at risk from the so-called Valley of Death in the shipbuilding industry.
Now on the board of Navantia, which is bidding for the $30 billion Future Frigates, Mr King will also pledge to create 7000 jobs if the Spanish company’s proposal is chosen.
At the Defence Teaming Centre gala dinner in Adelaide tonight Mr King will declare the Federal Government’s greatest challenge is to make the “earliest possible decisions” on the project, to stop jobs drying up between projects.
As he introduces Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne to the crowd, he will also reveal that the Spanish bid for the nine ships will deliver 7000 jobs on the ships and their supply chains, and will provide work for 200 SA companies.
Mr King told The Advertiser that Navantia wants to start recruiting, instead of getting caught up in debate about whether Australian shipbuilders Austal and ASC should be the shipbuilders.
Austal and ASC teamed up hoping to work with whichever of the three international designers — Navantia, Italy’s Fincantieri and the UK’s BAE — wins the bid.
However, the tender document makes it clear they will not necessarily have a role, prompting accusations from the Nick Xenophon Team and Labor that Australians will be cut out.
All three shipbuilders say they will use the Australian workforce and Mr Pyne has committed to building the frigates in Adelaide, by Australians.
“Some of this recent discussion about whether Austal or ASC have to be shipbuilders has diverted our attention from the main game which is the opportunity for the broader industry in Australia,” Mr King told The Advertiser, adding that Navantia was a ship designer and a shipbuilder, committed to a sovereign Australian capability managed here and geared towards exports.
“The greatest challenge in front of government is not which companies will get jobs but making the earliest possible decisions to arrest the decline in the current workforce and to move into the recruitment phase,” he said.
“Let’s think about this on the grander scale rather than as single players in the project.”
Mr Pyne will say that the Government is “acting on a scale never before seen”, with a $90 billion investment in warships and submarines.
That investment will create more than 5000 direct jobs and three times that in indirect jobs. The Government will “soon have more to add” about sovereign capability when they release the Defence Industry Capability Plan, Mr Pyne will say.
“The Australian defence industry has a bright future ahead of it.”
Like Navantia, BAE has promised thousands of jobs including 1000 positions for graduates and apprentices, while Fincantieri is yet to reveal details of its bid.
An announcement is expected shortly, with a decision on the combat systems expected next week.
At the heart of debate over ASC and Austal involvement or sidelining is how it will affect creation of Australia’s shipbuilding industry.
Those who want them involved say it’s the only way to ensure a completely Australian industry with export potential, while others say the three European bids will be able to better manage the entire process and say they will still be able to build an export industry.
The Future Frigates will be submarine-hunting warships built to replace the Anzac class frigates.
