Thought bubbles - No way to run Defence

Yesterday Bill Shorten was writing cheques he can’t cash. His calls for regular docking of the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) Amphibious Assault Ships (LHDs) in Townsville goes against longstanding advice from Defence to governments of both persuasions.

During and following procurement Defence considered a range of options for the maintenance of the large amphibious ship.

Defence’s longstanding position is that a single location is best for primary maintenance and associated engineering management and logistic support of large amphibious ships.

Navy’s advice in 2012, when Labor was in Government, was that the amphibious ships are likely to be deployed on operations as part of a larger task group. Having the amphibious ships train and be supported alongside the rest of the major fleet units of the Navy in Sydney was an important part of the capability. This view remains.

In 2012 the Defence Posture Review stated that the amphibious ships should be homeported at Sydney - “given its excellent infrastructure and support capacity….Fleet Base East Sydney is the only viable option for LHD home-port basing.”

Navy also advises that with the LHD being a primary humanitarian asset to support cyclone and disaster relief, basing or undertaking substantial maintenance of the vessels within the cyclone belt would be highly problematic.

Defence has made and continues to make significant investments in Sydney to support the amphibious ships.

Making policy decisions on the run without proper consultations is not the way Mr Shorten, the alternative Prime Minister, should be operating, particularly with defence strategy and capability. Bill Shorten should have learned after being forced to backtrack his Captain’s call to repeal small business tax cuts without consultation.

The Coalition Government makes important decisions around our nation’s security based on the advice of leaders from the military, law enforcement, and intelligence. Bill Shorten should follow this example.

Defence has a long term, substantial presence in Townsville, currently employing approximately 5,500 permanent ADF members, 300 permanent Australian Public Servants and 650 active reservists in Townsville. There are in the order of 12,000 dependants of these employees living in the Townsville region.

The units based in Townsville utilise substantial levels of local industrial and community support to maintain the complex, high readiness capabilities that are permanently based in Townsville. There are around 100 local businesses in Townsville that benefit from the Garrison Support Services contracts led by Defence.

Key projects in Townsville include:

• $49.8m in facilities works at RAAF Townsville to support the introduction of the Chinook D model helicopters.
• $12m in works at the Explosive Ordnance Depot at Mount Stuart
• $14m in works at RAAF Townsville to improve the runway and lighting
• $4.5m to support new aviation Refuelling vehicles
• $33m to support the P8-A maritime Patrol aircraft$11.3m to support new health facilities at RAAF Townsville
• $9.2m to support new artillery systems at Lavarack Barracks
• In the order of $50m in proposed forks at Townsville to support project Land 400 Phase 2 and potentially up to $200m as part of the broader Army Armoured Fighting Vehicle Facilities Program
• There will also be substantial investment as a result of the Australia-Singapore Military training Initiative with an anticipated investment of $26.3m in annual income for the region and around 264 new jobs created during development with 74 ongoing jobs anticipated.