Disappointment As Hmas Success Bid Given To Singapore

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8th October 2010, 07:21pm - Views: 1445





Misc Miscellaneous Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union 1 image











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







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