AWD Hobart acceptance ceremony doorstop

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thank you very much for coming down to Hobart, the Air Warfare Destroyer for the Provisional Acceptance by the Commonwealth Government. I won’t repeat the remarks that I made in my speech, but obviously it’s a very exciting day for everyone involved in the Air Warfare Destroyer project, from the workers right through to all the members of the alliance whether it’s Raytheon, Navantia, the ASC and the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group of the Department of Defence. This is a $9 billion project, that’s included significant infrastructure here at Osborne and it continues the milestone that we [indistinct] as part of our national shipbuilding project. The three air warfare destroyers soon to start the offshore patrol vessels here at Osborne, Pacific Patrol vessels have begun at Henderson in Western Australia, and then there’ll be nine frigates to be built here in Adelaide and 12 submarines.

So what the government has done, in contrast with previous government, is established a continuous naval shipbuilding project that will last for decades into the future and deliver $90 billion worth of shipbuilding value here alone in Osborne, not to mention billions of dollars that will be also poured into Henderson in Western, Australia employing thousands of Australians. Here in Osborne alone 5200 Australians will be working on the shipbuilding project up on the mid 2020s. So it’s a very exciting time to be in naval shipbuilding and today marks a very important milestone with the delivery of the Air Warfare Destroyer Hobart to the Commonwealth Government.

QUESTION: Is this project now on time and on budget?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well as with all projects in Defence, especially over the last 10 years, the first of this particular class of vessel was effectively also a prototype. So the other projects, often you build a prototype and then the first vessel or the first aircraft whatever it might be is the first of its class. In this case with the Air Warfare Destroyer, all the learnings are from- the first ship from the prototype were learnt on that first vessel. So the second vessel had a 30 per cent improvement on productivity, the third vessel a 60 per cent improvement on productivity. So we expected that to happen and that is how it’s turned out. What we’ve delivered though here and what the ASC and its partners have delivered is the most lethal air warfare destroyer in the navy protecting Australia’s national security and giving us the capability for forward defence, which makes us a better ally more capable of defending our interests at home and also abroad.

QUESTION: Is it a round about way of saying this one is late to be delivered ?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Look, it’s not a question of being late to be delivered. I mean how you define the schedule and the budget really determines the answer to that question. Did the project cost more than expected? Yes it did. Did it come later than we expected? Yes it did. Is it an incredibly capable vessel that improves our national security? Absolutely. And as a consequence, the project has been a success and ships two and three are better in terms of productivity and will deliver the same kind of capability that the navy and our country needs.

QUESTION: How much more did this project cost?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think it was about a billion dollars over budget. And that’s all some years ago now. So that extra cost was factored in some time ago. That isn’t a new story.

QUESTION: When can we expect Brisbane and Sydney to do a big mission overseas?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well that’s naturally a question for the operational people in the navy. This ship now goes in to operations and evaluation on the high seas and that takes some time. For example the helicopter carriers are still in their operation in the valuation period. That takes some years. But obviously this ship is now ready for the operations and that’s why we’ve got provisional acceptance on it.

QUESTION: Minister, what does today mean for ASC workers – we’ve seen obviously job cuts as this project’s wind down, does this mark, I guess, another round of job cuts here at ASC, given this project’s finished?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No it doesn’t. It marks a successful handing over of a tremendous product produced by the ASC workers here at Osborne for which they should be absolutely proud. We know that because the previous government made no decisions in six years, none, to build any ships in Australia, to commission one vessel. We know that there is a valley of death, and the job that I’ve got – which I am doing – is trying to find the work to ensure that we keep the workforce intact while we gear up for the offshore control vessels and the future frigates. And how are we doing that? Well, we are building the Naval Shipbuilding College here in South Australia as a hub and spoke approach around the country which will give us the opportunity to train and retrain the thousands of workers that will be necessary in this naval shipbuilding project. That Naval Shipbuilding College will be turning out 1600 trained trades’ people, apprentices, others, a year, in its full year of capacity. That will help with the workers who need to be trained and retrained. It will also help with the Holden workers by the way. The second thing we’re doing of course was building infrastructure at Osborne, $1.1 billion worth of infrastructure that will be needed for the shipbuilding and the submarine project down the track. That will soak up some of the workers and the offshore patrol vessels begin at the end of next year. That of course will also require many hundred strong workforce. So we are doing everything we can to keep this workforce intact. If the previous government had remained in power every single ASC worker would have lost their jobs. Every single one of them. Because of this government’s decisions that is not the case. So we are certainly making the necessary decisions to keep that workforce intact because we decided it is a sovereign capability that we want here in Australia to be able to build ships, to build submarines, to sustain and maintain ships and sustain and maintain submarines which we are doing here in Osborne right now.

QUESTION: Minister, the jobs here now there’s 1200 I understand employed at the moment. That’s going to fall right down to several hundred isn’t it before the end of next year?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, because of the previous government, people will lose their jobs at the ASC; and because of this government, they have a future in shipbuilding and submarine building that they wouldn’t otherwise have had. And I’ll turn a sod on infrastructure here at Osborne in the next month. Now, none of those decisions would have been made if the previous government had been in power. It’s happening because of the Turnbull Government’s commitment to submarine and shipbuilding in this country, and the infrastructure that’s necessary. Only recently, only in the last couple of months, I secured – on behalf of the Government – the entire facility here at Techport. The common user facility and all the land around the current ship and submarine yard is now in Commonwealth Government hands, because we are putting in place the foundations for many, many decades. Many decades of naval shipbuilding and submarine building, and sustainment and maintenance that will employ thousands and thousands of South Australians – and Australians – for decades into the future. And the expected benefit to that in terms of the uplift factor means that about another 20,000 South Australians and Australians will have work in shipbuilding and submarine building. Because we want this career to be not a career project by project, but a career for life. And if you think about all the families that will have livelihoods as a consequence, all the building and construction that will be necessary, the schools. What we have created here because of the Commonwealth Government, is a new industry for this state – and for the country – which is in stark contrast to the management of the state for the last 15 years by the current Labor Government.

QUESTION: Could you feel for those workers right now who are living in doubt, and what their and their families are going through?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think I’ve answered all the questions on that particular subject.

QUESTION: Well, your state counterpart today – who isn’t here (*) – called for, I guess, 90 per cent of local employment on those future jobs coming up. Is that something you’d commit to? You’ve said you want locals working. Is 90 per cent a target that can commit to?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, there’s 5200 people expected to be working on these projects; almost all of those people will be Australians and South Australians – far in excess of 90 per cent. The workforce will be an Australian workforce. The only people who will be here from DC and S, or whomever builds the frigates and the offshore patrol vessels – let’s just take these [indistinct] contract that we decide at this particular point – will be trainers, some designers, some managers, and that will number in the dozens or around 100. So 90 per cent of the workforce would be [indistinct].

QUESTION: When will we know the decision on the frigates?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Ah, well, we’re in the process of the- the request for tender is out in the public domain and three bidders – Fincantieri, Navantia, and BAE – are in the process of putting their bids together. They’re required to get those to the Government in the third-quarter of this year. They’ll then have to be assessed and it’s my intention to make a decision about that as early as possible in 2018 – but obviously, that’s a complicated process, has to be done well. So over the course of 2018, that decision will be made. But well in time to be able to cut steel on that project in 2020. It is an ambitious schedule, but it’s a schedule I believe that we can meet, particularly because we have a government that is determined to make those decisions and not to dither and not to wait for circumstances to change, but to actually get on with it.

QUESTION: Minister, has Prime Minister Turnbull hurt international relations with the US with his speech at a Midwinter Ball.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No. I’m not surprised Bill Shorten’s speech wasn’t leaked to the media, because it was an absolute stinker – and I was there. And in fact, it’s much more embarrassing not to have your speech leaked than to have your speech leaked. Malcolm Turnbull’s speech was very funny. What the Australian public have seen is a side to Malcolm Turnbull that I see regularly. He’s a funny fellow with a great sense of humour. The Midwinter ball is like the White House correspondents’ ball in the United States. The speeches from the leaders who speak there are supposed to poke fun at themselves, at politics, at public figures. The Americans get that as well as anybody does; they do stand-up comedy better than anybody, with possible exception to the Irish. As a consequence, I don’t think it has any impact whatsoever, and I’m glad that people know that Malcolm Turnbull is funny guy – most people don’t think politicians are, and it’s good to for them to see that side of him.

QUESTION: What do you think the American’s will think of the speech?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Jim Carouso, the Charge de’Affaires at the US Embassy United States have indicated that they fully understand the circumstances in which those speeches are given. He was the one that said it’s very much like the American White House Correspondents’ Dinner. They get it. The public get. The only people who are hyperventilating about this are people in the bubble of the press gallery in Canberra. And, you know, if they want to leak these kinds of things, perhaps, these speeches should be broadcast in the future. The only person who’d be concerned about that, I think, would be Bill Shorten because he’s not very funny.

QUESTION: Minister on Arrium. Will the Federal Government be providing funds to make sure those operations continue?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, when I was the industry minister, in fact, I was the person who decided that we would build the Adelaide to Tarcoola rail line earlier – that would provide about $70 million plus of work for Arrium over in Whyalla. As a consequence, that felt secure business. The Government – the Turnbull Government – also committed about $49.5 million, I think, for upgrading the equipment at Arrium. So we’ve already made a very significant contribution, vastly in excess of the State Government’s contribution. Of course, we’ll look at whatever the bidders for Arrium are asking both governments for. That’s a matter for Arthur Sinodinos and the Cabinet. But obviously, I’m delighted that the workers of Arrium, the town of Whyalla has a positive future. I’m glad to be part of the government to help to secure that. And I’d have to say that Greg Hunt, when he was the Minister for Industry, and now Arthur Sinodinos, all of us have been trying to make sure that we have an ongoing and viable steel-making industry in Australia. One of the ways that we’ve done that in this current portfolio, of course, is to commit that- not only will the ships be built by Australian workers here in Australia, but they’ll be using Australian steel.

QUESTION: Just on the threat of China being a frenemy, do you think that China is a frenemy?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I don’t - I haven’t bothered to study that report this morning, so I won’t comment on that.

[ENDS]