More than 1100 jobs have been lost from the South Australian naval shipbuilding industry or are in serious doubt, with former Naval Group employees only being guaranteed 3 months’ work at ASC.
600 construction workers face uncertainty as Australian Naval Infrastructure shut the gates on the construction of the new shipyard building for the Naval Group subs. Many workers were locked out following the announcement that the project had been scrapped, without even being given access to retrieve their tools.
Federal Senate proceedings are laying bare the true cost of Scott Morrison and Steven Marshall’s scrapping of Naval Group submarine contract.
Royal Australian Navy personnel have also revealed to a Senate Inquiry that the cost of the nuclear submarine deal will be more than the Naval group submarines, and they’ll be delivered later.
Quotes attributed to SA Unions Secretary Dale Beasley:
“Steven Marshall's sub spin is finally dead in the water. Details revealed at Senate Estimates show hundreds of construction jobs are gone, and the workers offered jobs at ASC are only funded for 3 months. Is this what a jobs bonanza looks like?”
“I sat in a meeting with ASC CEO Stuart Whiley earlier this month where he assured workers and unions that there was a job guarantee available to all of Naval group’s workforce. Now he’s revealed at Senate Estimates that only $30m had so far been allocated to recruit people who had been working with Naval Group, guaranteeing them just three months of work.” “We were told by Scott Morrison and Steven Marshall that there would be more jobs out of this nuclear deal than the Naval group one. So far all we’ve seen is job losses and the emergence of a new valley of death.”
“Unions and Defence Industry employers have been calling for more detail on this nuclear deal since it was announced. All we’re getting is secrecy, and a growing body of evidence to tell us that the submarines won’t be constructed in Adelaide at all.”
“We’ve also got no certainty that the future nuclear submarines will deliver anything near the levels of local job creation, local industry stimulation and sovereign capability that the Naval Group build would. Australia currently has no capability to maintain nuclear powered subs, and we suspect that that maintenance work will need to be done offshore in the US or UK.”
All Media Enquiries: Dale Beasley – 8279 2222