Full cycle docking at Henderson

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

Well good morning Leon, and that's just the most incredible collection of conspiracy theories and beat-ups that I’ve heard in a very long time, not to mention outright lies. There's been no such decision to move the full cycle docking of the Collins class submarine from Osborne to Henderson. No plans to do that have been made. The truth is that by mid-2020s there will be submarines in full production at Osborne, employing 2800 people directly; and frigates in full production at Osborne, employing 2200 people directly. It would be quite insensible for the Department of Defence not to make contingency plans about what to do with the full cycle docking, which is 700 maintenance workers. In the event that we find that physically it's not possible for it to all be done at Osborne, to have effectively 6000 full time workers at Osborne trying to do the building of submarines – which is not a small matter, the shed for the submarines is bigger than the Adelaide Oval stadium – these frigates – again, the sheds are bigger than the Adelaide Oval stadium – and also the full cycle docking. Now, it’s possible the full cycle docking will remain there, quite able to be done. It's possible that it might need to be considered being moved because of the contingencies that need to be put in place in the event that has to happen, but we aren’t trying to lose workers in shipbuilding and submarine-building, Leon. We need to find 5000 new workers. So it's a great problem to have. I'm certainly not complaining, and nobody in South Australia is complaining.

LEON BYNER:                   

So you can guarantee them, as Defence Minister, that the 700 jobs and possible other 2000, which Rex Patrick alleges are at risk, that is not so. None of those jobs will go to WA?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

There are no plans to move the full cycle docking of the Collins class submarine from Osborne to Henderson.

LEON BYNER:                   

I didn't ask you that. I asked a question about the jobs.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

I can't guarantee what a future government might decide in 2026, Leon. But what I can tell you is there are no plans for this government to move the full cycle docking from Osborne to Henderson of the Collins class submarine. But of course, the Department of Defence is, as any sensible large organisation would do, planning contingencies for any outcome, because that's what they should do. This is not like going down to Bunnings and buying a spare bit of hardware. These are enormous projects and a lot of planning goes into them, and of course we're doing that work. The idea that there's been any cover up or any secret documents discovered is quite frankly laugh out loud. Exactly what I have said to you this morning is in the Naval Shipbuilding Plan, which was released publicly last year, and I'm surprised Rex Patrick hasn't read it.

LEON BYNER:                   

So you're saying that this contingency work that was done by the Department …

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

Is being done.

LEON BYNER:                   

… and is still being done, is contingent on the possibility that the ASC won't be able to handle all the work?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

No, it’s nothing to do with the ASC being able to handle the work, it’s the physical nature of Osborne and whether we find by the mid-2020s that the enormous projects that we've managed to secure for our state in submarines and shipbuilding can sit alongside the full cycle docking of the Collins class. It might well be that they can. It might well be that they can't. And in the alternative, would you prefer it if by mid-2020 we hadn't done any work? The full cycle docking, we're employing 700 people, had to go ahead at Osborne; and the 2800 people working on the submarine project [indistinct] to be put off.

LEON BYNER:                   

So you're saying …

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

That's the alternative.

LEON BYNER:                   

Alright. So, I just want to clarify this so that everybody knows where we're coming from here. You're saying that, as minister, there is no way those 700-odd jobs are at risk, or the 2000 associated that Senator Patrick has talked about. In SA.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

There is no possibility- let's stop talking about the 2000 which Rex Patrick is trying to make up figures out of the sky. There are 700 people who work on Collins class full cycle docking sustainment and maintenance of the submarines at Osborne. Those people will always have a job, because this government has decided that the maintenance to sustain a submarine is a sovereign capability that we intend to maintain, and the ASC is doing that work and will continue to do that work for decades into the future.

LEON BYNER:                   

What about the claim by Senator Patrick that the local builders were told to slow down a bit?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

No. Never heard of that in my life. Rex Patrick, 2013, he wrote columns saying that the full cycle docking of the Collins class should be moved from Osborne, and it's the same in maintenance, it should be being done at Henderson. He also wrote columns saying that we shouldn't have a percentage for Australian industry content. So much as I like Rex Patrick, and I do, the truth is he has moved his position around depending on the level of publicity he wants to gain as a crossbench senator.

LEON BYNER:                   

What’s important to us is the actual jobs we are going to get out of this.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:    

That’s what I'm doing, Leon. That’s what I’m doing, and anybody who accuses me of bad faith would need to be very careful, because nobody has put more effort into achieving shipbuilding and submarine building for Adelaide than I have.

LEON BYNER:                   

Chris, thank you for responding.