How union greed torpedoed our subs

The much-needed and long-overdue debate about replacing the nation’s ageing submarine fleet is too important to be jettisoned because of a single misguided comment.

Defence Minister David Johnston was flippant when he said the Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC) couldn’t be trusted to build a canoe. His verbal torpedo could have been more accurate. Properly on course, it should have targeted the militant ­unions in the ­enterprise and the Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) project rather than the workforce. Created by Labor in 1987 to build the Collins-class submarines (so plagued with problems no other nation ever bought them), the ASC was always going to be a floating mine. Its international shareholders had jumped ship by 2000 and it is now wholly owned by us — the taxpayers — and operated by skilled workers belonging to unions firmly locked into the hand-out mentality. Senator Johnston’s remarks were made in a debate on the ASC and the AWD. Both operations have contributed new phrases to the national lexicon. Take The Last Ship Syndrome — the go-slow by union members when a project is nearing completion and no new work is on the horizon. In effect the completion date never ­arrives as make-work schemes are developed to keep union members happy. And naturally the cost inevitably blows out. If no new projects are available, the workforce enters The Valley of Death and mass lay-offs and potential losses of shipbuilding skills ensue. These two issues are highlighted in a still-unreleased ­report by former US Navy secretary Don Winter and former shipbuilder John White into the $8.5 billion AWD project commissioned by the government. It recommends slowing the completion of the AWD project and speeding up plans to build replacement frigates for the ageing Anzac ships, to keep the workforce employed and avoid skills losses. When the Coalition came to office last year, the AWD program was running 21 months late and was more than $360 million over its target costs. It is now understood to be at least $600 million over budget. The problem was not helped by Labor ­defence minister Stephen Smith’s 2012 decision to try to “right”’ the timeline for the three AWD’s in an attempt to avoid the Valley of Death. All it did was help Labor further delay the decision on the ­future submarine replacements that Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd promised in 2007 would have first pass approval by 2011. Defence was just a cash cow for Labor. Forget the crocodile tears over the defence pay rise now, or their claptrap about the 4.6 per cent efficiency dividend over five years imposed on the ABC workers collective. In 2012 Labor slashed 10.5 per cent from the defence budget in a single year. In just one term, ­defence spending under Labor dropped to pre-WWII levels. Labor was too busy sorting out its internal woes to seriously address defence. The issue of national security was placed in the too-hard basket. Yes, the nation wants a ­viable shipbuilding industry but it wants an ­efficient operation, not a union-controlled, featherbedded one. We welcome more jobs, but we expect value for our money and defence workers are paid by the taxpayers. The Abbott government commissioned the Winter ­Review to identify problems within the AWD program and recommend solutions. It has put $78.2 million into the Anzac frigate program to bring forward preliminary engineering and ­design a workable operation to build future frigates here. This will focus on the continued production of the AWD hull, using ­cutting-edge Australian companies, including our own radar electronic systems. Johnston must be able to present Cabinet with a productive shipbuilding industry so he can prosecute the case to have the frigates built here. Labor’s failure to do anything has left Australia facing the very real risk of a capability gap in its submarine defence. The Collins-class subs are due to be phased out from 2026. Lead time for new submarines is 20 years. Constantly patching up the Collins subs is no longer an option. The government must get it right. It has to ­ensure the future frigate program is expedited without loss of integrity as the Valley of Death has already arrived, Labor blew the opportunity. The government must do the best it can. Vested interests, particularly the South Australian Labor government, have no regard for the national ­security aspects of the program. A harder line is needed to ensure that non-performers in Left-leaning unions with a hand-out mentality don’t scupper our national defence.