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A former head of ASC has blasted Australia’s “insane deal” with the US and the UK to build nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide, deriding a “hocus pocus” announcement he says raises major issues about nuclear and defence capability.
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Premier Steven Marshall has pledged new roles for “any or all” of the 350 Naval Group workers in South Australia whose jobs have been thrown into doubt by yesterday’s “major pivot” on Australia’s submarine contract, but the Government remains vague on whether a local employment component can now be safeguarded.
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This week’s nuclear submarine announcement raises questions that need full and transparent examination. What is certain, writes Rex Patrick, is that the Federal Government’s atomic marketing efforts are designed to cover a huge mess of its own making.
South Australia will be the hub of a new world order in international defence, with a nuclear-powered submarine fleet to be built here and the existing Collins Class fleet to be serviced at Osborne – but the dramatic developments have created uncertainty for hundreds of local workers and sparked claims the state will have a “target on its back”.
The French Government has criticised Australia’s decision to scrap its $90 billion submarine deal with Naval Group, but France’s top diplomat in Adelaide says the “shock” announcement isn’t likely to damage South Australia’s economic ties with the European nation.
Defence secretary Greg Moriarty has confirmed his department is looking at alternatives to French-designed submarines in case the troubled contract is sunk.
If sustainment of the Collins Class submarines goes west, it could set off a cascading chain of lost work for the Adelaide shipyards, writes former state defence industries minister Martin Hamilton-Smith. So why aren’t South Australian politicians fighting harder?
