Media Release
Friday 8th October, 2010
Disappointment as HMAS Success bid
given to Singapore
The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has expressed disappointment
after the Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare, awarded the contract to ST
Marine, ahead of an Australian bid from Thales and Forgacs.
The AMWU had called for the work to be done in Australia, citing benefits to skills
development and local employment, which would have overcome cost factors.
“It’s a missed opportunity for Australia and it is a major disappointment that
Defence would choose a low cost operation in Asia where safety standards for
workers are a major issue,” said AMWU National Secretary, Dave Oliver.
“It is also a lost opportunity for Australian taxpayer dollars to create jobs for
workers at Forgacs in Newcastle, who would have supplied the fabricated steel to
Garden Island for the project.”
Despite the setback, the union welcomed comments from the Defence Materiel
Organisation (DMO) that ‘on-going repair and maintenance of Navy ships
happens in Australia and will stay in Australia’.
DMO also announced that between $12 and $17 million worth of work will be
undertaken to HMA Ships
Kanimbla
and
Manoora
in the Sydney region,
beginning in the next two weeks.
The union also expects that upcoming work on the HMAS
Newcastle
will be done
in Australia, as per DMO’s re-commitment to maintain ‘ongoing and regular
maintenance in Australia’.
This work will go some way to addressing concerns the AMWU had about the
potential for redundancies, and subsequent loss of skills and capacity in the lead
up to a major round of defence spending beginning in the next year.
--ends--
AMWU National Secretary, Dave Oliver – 0419 289 261
Media Officer, Tim Chapman – 0418 660 810
NEWS 
