E&OE..................
Well thank you John Olsen, John Prescott the Chairman, Han Off, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to announce confirmation of the fact that all of the Collins Class Submarine refits will be carried out here, the Australian Submarine Corporation in Osmon. That means an injunction over time of about $1 billion at least into the local economy. You';re looking at something in the order of years of work, many years of work. It will guarantee a certain level of employment at this establishment. It will also put to rest some very legitimate concerns and anxieties that people have had about the longevity of this particular establishment and therefore the business which is underpinned by the Government';s decision.
State Premiers of course always barrack for their states. Can I say as Prime Minister of the whole country this is a very good decision for Australia and I can say to my Western Australian friends that there will be quite a lot of maintenance work to be carried out in Western Australia and it';s a question of sharing around according to the capacities of individuals establishments in different parts of the country.
The Collins Class Submarine project has had its share of publicity. And there';s been afar amount of debate about it and there';s no point at this stage going over that. But what ought to be said and said very clearly and unconditionally is that there ahs never been any debate or any qualification or any concern about the engineering and technological skill and capacity of the Australian workforce that has contributed to the construction of these submarines.
I';m very conscious and I';m sure that all of you are that I make this announcement at a time when more than, at any time in a number of years, there has been a focus on this nations defence capacity and the importance of this country having an efficient, well trained, well equip defence force of Army, Navy and Air Force. And the decisions that have been taken regarding the refitting of the Collins submarine and the confirmation that that work will be carried out here will be a great deal of consolidation to that part of our defence effort and I know it will give a great deal of satisfaction to the corporation ad those who work here and I know it';s a very important decision so far as the Royal Australian Navy is concerned.
This is an occasion for me to emphasis the linkage between the defence forces of Australian defence industry. Defence industry is a very important part, in fact it';s a crucial part of the overall Australian defence effort. We have moved as a nation into les certain and less predictable times. And more than ever there is going to be an emphasis on the capacity of this country to contribute in different ways to the defence of those things, whatever our political beliefs may be, those things that Australians in common hold very dear and which we hold in common with the free nations of the rest of the world.
Australia needs a strong efficient defence force, that is why the Government has committed additional resources to defence and out of those additional resources will of course come an additional commitment to Australia';s defence industry.
I want to wish the workforce well, I hope to have the opportunity after I finish speaking of meeting as many of you as possible. It';s great to come onto this site. I think it';s quite an exciting and very important day for the people of Adelaide, for industry here in South Australia. But it is overwhelming a decision based on what is in the best interest of defence and the best interests of defence industry in Australia.
Prime Minister';s always watch with interest the passionate advocacy by Premiers of different political persuasions to the interests of their state. I have to keep separate and apart from that, I';m not even game because I';m a rugby league follower, I';m not even game to take sides between New South Wales and Queensland in the State of Origin through fear of getting into strife but I';m certainly not going to get caught up in any cross fire between Premiers but let me say this, that John Olsen from day one when I got involved in all of this has been in there batting very hard for the people that he represents and that his job and I complement him on that. But importantly it';s a good decision for the industry, it';s a good decision for re workforce, I wish all of you well, I think it is a great project and I hope today';s announcement will bring to an end concern about whether all of the refits were going to be carried out here. It is the right decision, it will go ahead and it will provide a considerable degree of employment and a considerable degree of assurance and continuity for the industry here in Osmon for years into the future.
Thank you very much.
[ends]