ABC Local Radio, Leon Compton

LEON COMPTON: At the moment, and in the years ahead, billions of dollars are going to wash through the Australian economy as ships and subs for the navy come online.

Christopher Pyne’s in Launceston this morning, he’s holding an industry briefing on that subject. Christopher Pyne, good morning to you.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning. Thank you for having me on.

LEON COMPTON: Firstly, can I ask you a question about Murray Goulburn and their strange corporate choices? So they look to have done further damage to north-western Tasmania again yesterday, Minister, with news that a major processing plant will get closed there – 100 or more jobs to go. What, if any support, can the Federal Government offer to the people of the northwest?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well obviously we’re very disappointed that Murray Goulburn have made that decision. Obviously, particularly for the workers in north-western Tasmania. And I think Murray Goulburn is still feeling the effects of some of the unusual decisions that it made in terms of the payment of prices to the dairy farmers across Victoria and Tasmania last year. And I note that the ACCC is taking action against Murray Goulburn, which they announced at the end of April.

So I think Murray Goulburn has had a few problems and this is the continuing fallout from that. What the Government is doing – Michaelia Cash, the Minister for Employment, of course, has triggered the various mechanisms that we can use to help the workers, to ensure that they get their redundancy payments, but also opportunities that they might have for training, for relocation, for support from the employment advocates in this part of Tasmania. And we will do whatever we can and whatever is available through government agencies. But obviously it’s a decision of Murray Goulburn’s and it’s a sad one for the people who’d been working there.

LEON COMPTON: Minister, can we talk about the reason that brings you to Tasmania today, an industry briefing on the opportunities in the naval industry? Look Tasmania in recent years, we’ve missed the Pacific Patrol Boat contract, we missed the new Bushmaster contract. What confidence, Minister, should the industry here have that we can win tenders to supply the builders of subs, patrol boats, frigates, as they come online over the next few years?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Tasmania’s defence industry is what I would describe as defuse, in that there are many small providers of sustainment and maintenance across the maritime sector and other parts of Defence like vehicle building. I mean there are large corporations here like Taylor Bros and Elphinstone, and of course there’s the DSTG at Scottsdale which does quite a lot of the food processing for the Defence Forces and the Australian Maritime College, where I am this morning. So there are some significant, iconic businesses and institutions. But the Tasmanian defence sector is more spread right across your state, and it doesn’t have – like we have at Osborne in South Australia – one large shipbuilding facility. The same as Henderson in Perth or Bendigo’s major vehicle manufacturing for the army. So it is an area which does a lot of maintenance and sustainment.

LEON COMPTON: So what does that mean in terms of our ability to take advantage of the opportunities that will come up to supply to the enormous amount of work that is going on in those states that you’ve just named?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well there will be tremendous opportunities, because if you increase your spending on military capability by $190 billion over the next 10 years, there will definitely be benefits for the Tasmanian defence sector. And what I’m doing here today is talking to industry in Launceston and then going to Hobart, talking to the Premier Will Hodgman about how Tasmania can leverage that large spend. I’m going to Burnie to see Elphinstone to find the- to encourage Tasmanian defence industry players to get involved. To find out how they can engage with the Centre for Defence Industry Capability. But it’ll be- a large part of that will be in the maintenance and sustainment that Tasmanians already do across vehicles and across the maritime sector. And I think there are tremendous opportunities here for the Defence industry. And when you spend that amount of money, obviously there’s going to be a benefit right across the economy. And that will also impact here in Tasmania.

LEON COMPTON: What do we need to do better in this state to make sure that we’re in the box seat for some of those opportunities?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I guess what some of the other states have done is coordinated their effort. So South Australians have a particular part of their government- the state government called Defence SA, and the Defence Teaming Centre, which brings together all of the industry players, the companies – small companies, large companies – and they have a plan about how to maximise their work.

Western Australia is following that model, now Victoria is also following that model, as is Queensland. And I think one of the things that I would do in Tasmania if I was part of the State Government here, is perhaps try and coordinate the effort better. So that Tasmania – when there is an opportunity – Tasmanian businesses have as good a chance as anyone of taking advantage of that.

LEON COMPTON: On ABC Local Radio around Tasmania, Christopher Pyne, Minister for Defence Industry, is our guest this morning. To sort of straddle two portfolios with a question for a moment, Minister. One the one hand we’re talking about these opportunities that will require incredible technical skills and entrepreneurship, on the other hand, you’re part of a government at the moment that is making the degree courses to get many of those skills more expensive and you’re asking people to repay them earlier? How does that work as a strategy long term for the Australian economy and for Tasmania?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well students have a tremendous deal from the Australian taxpayer, in terms of getting their education. The Australian taxpayer pays over 50 per cent of the cost of putting university students through their particular courses. And what we’ve announced this week is making that more sustainable- making that HECS debt more sustainable for the entire economy. It will cost students between $2000 and $3600 more over the course of a four year degree. So we are certainly not putting anybody out- putting education out of the reach of anyone. And let’s not forget that students can borrow every dollar of that. So our education system from a student’s point of view, is the envy of the world. It’s more generous than anyone else’s. And I don’t think that we are cutting people off from getting the extra education that they want through bachelor and post-graduate degrees. And let’s face it, from Tasmania’s point of view, opening up some of the enabling courses – as we are planning to do – will be a great benefit to the University of Tasmania and many of the other colleges here in Tasmania.

LEON COMPTON: Jacqui Lambie’s already come out and said she’ll oppose moves to change the repayment model or your government’s proposed changes in the Senate. Will you be able to find the votes, do you think, to get these changes through? You’ve lived the challenge previously in trying to do that.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I certainly hope so, because from Tasmania’s point of view, funding of enabling courses – which Jacqui Lambie has talked to me about personally over the years when I was the Minister for Education – will be a significant boon to the University of Tasmania. Funding of postgraduate courses on the same basis as bachelor courses, will equally be good for research institutions like the Australian Maritime College. So voting against these reforms would really be a negative for Tasmania.

LEON COMPTON: Okay. And Christopher Pyne, I’m sure that you’ll be talking to many people in northern Tasmania this morning who express their ongoing and deep concerns about the future of the Australian Maritime College, given your announcement and the reason we spoke last time, to establish an Australian technical maritime college in South Australia. What will you say to them?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I’ll be telling them that this is a tremendous opportunity to get more students at the Australian Maritime College in Launceston. The naval shipbuilding college in Adelaide will not be competing with the AMC in Launceston, because it won’t be offering graduate degrees. It won’t be doing research. It won’t be involved in international collaboration. They are two very different institutions. But for those people that we want to be having graduate degrees in naval architecture and naval engineering, they will be trained at the AMC. And as a consequence, because of this massive military build-up, this will be boon to the AMC. It’ll mean more students, more people living in Launceston, more jobs for Launceston. So in fact it is a win for the AMC. The skills that’ll be offered at the naval shipbuilding college are things like fitting and turning and naval welding and electrical contracting. They’re not the kind of courses that are offered by the AMC. So they are actually complimentary institutions, not competitive ones.

LEON COMPTON: Appreciate you talking with us this morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s a great pleasure, thank you.

LEON COMPTON: Christopher Pyne, Minister for Defence Industry, on ABC Local Radio around Tasmania.