Cairns navy marine contracts generates 40+ jobs: Norsta Maritime gets $70m
A federal government funding boost will secure Cairns as a major Pacific Ocean large ship maintenance hub and generate 40+ jobs — but there are questions on the flow-on benefits to smaller businesses.
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NEW funding to secure Cairns as a major Pacific Ocean large ship maintenance hub will generate up to 43 direct jobs, in a move to shore up frontline defence of the nation’s northern border.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Wednesday signed a $70m five-year maintenance contract won by Norsta Maritime, which will now become a regional maintenance provider to the Royal Australian Navy.
“This is a very, very significant day, because it signals the next step in the job creation opportunities in Cairns, and coming out of Covid, we want to make sure that we have that sustained industry base,” Mr Dutton said.
“The announcement today of the $70m contract is a huge win for Cairns.”
Norsta Maritime is a group venture made up of Norship Marine, Tropical Reef Shipyard, Nova Systems and Secora.
“It’s a great collaboration of local businesses, and entities will come together and be awarded a $70m contract over the next five years,” he said.
Mr Dutton expected an engineering and marine manufacturing boom as new equipment came online.
“It’s the jobs within local businesses and industrial parks that will be designing and engineering and manufacturing components that will go into these vessels,” he said.
“It will employ 30 or 40 people, but they’re all local, and they’re putting that money back into the business.”
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch from the announcement at Norship’s Portsmith facility said that new funding would secure Cairns as a one-stop marine hub in the Pacific region.
“It’s great to see the three ship yards have come together, we are now hunting as a pack,” he said.
“We have been working since 2013 (to bring) all of our industry together, collaborating together, and creating opportunities that are going to last for decades and decades.”
Advance Cairns chairman Nick Trompf said the announcement was significant.
“To award such a big contract local consortium as opposed to a multinational company is an exceptional outcome,” he said.
“It will also be better for the businesses that supply to defence.”
Despite assurances from Mr Dutton that funding would be spent locally, Labor Senator Nita Green questioned the money that would flow into small Cairns-based businesses.
“At the moment there is no guarantees for that to happen,” she said.
“There doesn’t seem that there is any requirement in this contract to make sure that apprentices, particularly local apprentices, are trained as part of this funding.”
However, Mr Dutton said contracts are “very specific about our requirement for local industry content”.
“But frankly, it doesn’t need to be enforced. It’s instinctive already for the companies to do that,” he said.
“There is a significant a very significant benefit for the local economy.”
In addition to the $70m fund, federal government has also announced a contract of $14.3m to BAE Systems Maritime to provide at-sea services to the navy fleet.
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Originally published as Cairns navy marine contracts generates 40+ jobs: Norsta Maritime gets $70m
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