Western Australia to be home to sailor training for Future Frigates

SAILORS and officers to staff the $35 billion submarine-hunting Future Frigates will be trained at a new centre in Western Australia.

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SAILORS and officers to staff the new $35 billion submarine Future Frigates will be trained at a new centre in Western Australia.

The Hunter class training and capability centre will be known as ‘Ship Zero’ and will be part of a $670 million investment in WA.

But it was the timing of the announcement that raised some eyebrows.

The Federal Government announced it yesterday after several VIPs, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had finished talking about the SA’s involvement.

In the lead up to the BAE announcement had won the tender for the warships there had been speculation that a delay in making that decision was as a result of Australian shipbuilders ASC and Austal needed to be involved.

THE HON. MALCOLM TURNBULL MP , PRIME MINISTER, Steven MarshallPremier of South Australia, Christopher Pyre and other dignitaries at a Press conference and announce Future Frigate project to ASC workers at Osborne Naval Shipyard, Veitch Road, Osborne SA. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be in Adelaide today to announce the $35 billion Future Frigate project has been awarded to BAE, after two years of deliberations. Government-owned ASC Shipbuilding will become a subsidiary of the UK defence giant during the build, heading off concerns a foreign builder could strip Australia of its defence capabilities when the last ship is complete. (AAP/Emma Brasier)

Adelaide’s ASC had been in a teaming arrangement with WA’s Austal, fighting to be part of the shipbuilding project.

But that arrangement lapsed in recent weeks, then ASC Shipbuilding won the deal and Austal was left in the cold.

However, Mr Turnbull said Austal had been in discussions with BAE and were one of the largest companies in Australia qualified to be into the supply chain.

Regardless, some WA MPs and Senators will be relieved that there was some Government focus on the west.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said it was a “misunderstanding” to think that the original tender documents excluded ASC and Austal.

Ship Zero will train crews using virtual reality, simulation and classroom instruction. The rest of the investment will include wharf extensions, and the construction and support facilities.