Statements
PATROL BOAT ANNOUNCEMENT: CANBERRA RUBS SALT INTO TASSIE’S WOUNDS
The Federal Government’s announcement today to build all of the 33 new patrol boats in Perth and Adelaide is the latest step in a misguided program completely devoid of any consideration of Tasmania’s economic needs and manufacturing prowess.
We have an excellent Defence manufacturing precinct at Prince of Wales Bay and Tasmanian shipbuilders are more than capable of building vessels to the highest standard. The Government’s claim in late 2015 that Incat’s bid for the contract was non-compliant was always arguable and today’s announcement proves just how political it was.
Tasmania gets nowhere near its fair share of Defence spending and sending some work to the State would have been a perfect opportunity to remedy this. Moreover the economic stimulus is desperately needed in Tasmania because of our soft economy and persistently high unemployment rate.
Sending the contract to Perth and Adelaide, instead of Tasmania, is just putting cynical politics above the public interest.
Andrew Wilkie, Independent MP for Denison