I have noted previously how the Coalition has ear-marked tens-of-billions of taxpayer dollars to local defence manufacturing, including a $10 billion to $15 billion-program for 1,000 locally produced armoured vehicles, and locally designed and built submarines for around $40 billion. It has also flagged a multibillion-dollar warship project that will be built locally.
Today, The AFR has revealed that an $8 billion contract for local shipbuilder, ASC, to supply three air warfare destroyers for the Australian Navy is running two-and-a-half years late and more than $300 million over budget because the company has no experience in shipbuilding:
An audit released in March… warned there could be further cost blowouts and delays to come…
The 320-page audit found defective drawings supplied by Navantia and an inexperienced Australian shipyard workforce were a devastating combination leading to hull blocks not joining up, pipes, air conditiioning systems and cabling requiring modification, doors not lining up and equipment being left off and expensive and costly rework.
Surely the above schmozzle casts serious doubts over the Government’s plan to built military hardware locally.
While I acknowledge that there is an argument to retain your own military hardware building capacity, at what cost? The Coalition’s hard line on industry assistance appears to be in stark contrast to its defence procurement policy. Australia could easily purchase proven, fit-for-purpose, military hardware from abroad at a fraction of the cost of developing similar technology locally, saving taxpayers billions in the process.
Once again, it is these sorts of inconsistencies that undermine the Government’s goal of “ending the age of entitlement”. While it slashes benefits to vulnerable sections of the community, it is allowing egregious lurks and subsidies to remain in others, which is undermines the Government’s calls for “shared sacrifice”, whilst also ensuring that the burden of adjustment is not broad-based, reducing its efficacy. As l’ve said before, a much clearer framework for these decisions is needed.
