Senator FARRELL (South Australia) (16:17): At the request of Senator Carr, I move: That the Senate— (a) recognises: (i) the vital contribution of the Australian shipbuilding industry as an employer, a storehouse of advanced manufacturing capabilities and a strategic asset, and (ii) the urgent need for the Government to bring forward project work to ensure continuity of industry development, growth and employment; (b) is gravely concerned by: (i) the scheduled end of project work in three Australian shipyards in 2015, (ii) the severe consequences of the resulting project trough, including: (A) the retrenchment of more than 3 000 skilled workers, (B) the crippling of the shipbuilding supply chain, and (C) the forced closure of research projects and facilities supporting shipbuilding and advanced manufacturing, (iii) the heavy costs of rebuilding lost capabilities and retraining workers to meet future defence needs, and (iv) the threat to national security posed by the erosion of local capability; and (c) calls on the Government to immediately: (i) identify suitable project work to be fast-tracked and make a public commitment to those projects with a revised timeframe for tendering and delivery, (ii) recognise that this cannot wait for the Defence White Paper process to be concluded, and (iii) incorporate the long term opportunities for the Australian shipbuilding industry as a strategic priority in all future naval procurement plans. I think this is an especially well-written motion. Coming from South Australia as you do, Acting Deputy President Edwards, you will appreciate the significance of this particular motion in relation to the Australian shipbuilding industry. It talks of the need for the current government to bring forward project work to ensure that the terrific work that is being done in the Australian shipbuilding industry and in particular the shipbuilding work being done in South Australia, although that is not mentioned in this particular motion. The point Senator Carr makes in his motion is that there is an urgency about what potentially is an end to the shipbuilding industry unless projects are announced so that when the current array of shipbuilding projects comes to an end next year there is something to replace it. Senator Birmingham: Your government was very good at announcing them— Senator FARRELL: I will take that interjection. Let us just go through some of the things that happened during the period of this government. Perhaps the first place to start, when we look at South Australia in particular—and I know we have two South Australian senators in the chamber at the moment—is to look at Holden. What happened there? It is a very simple proposition: all this company needed, sometime after 2017, was $80 million in support from the federal government. What happened? This government goaded Holden into leaving Australia. That is a shocking development for the country. It is a particularly shocking development for the people of South Australia. They simply sat back on their hands and goaded this company into leaving the country. Once we lost Holden, what happened next? Toyota said, 'We can't make a go of auto manufacturing in the absence of Holden.' That obviously impacted dramatically on the workers at Toyota. But it had a secondary and just as important impact in South Australia, because a lot of the component manufacturers who provided components for both Holden and Toyota are going to lose their jobs as well. So it had a compounding effect. In areas where there was an opportunity to create some employment or keep jobs in Australia, this government sat on their hands—sat by and watched those jobs disappear. This motion goes to another area where this government is simply sitting on its hands and not doing anything—the very skilled employment of those in South Australia, and across the rest of the rest of Australia, who work in the shipbuilding industry. I notice we now have a third South Australian senator; in fact, we have four South Australian senators in the chamber. Why? Because this is a significant issue for South Australia. What is going to happen if this government does what it did for Holden, if it does what it did for Toyota? I see another senator from South Australia shaking his head over there. Can I talk about something that is in Senator Fawcett's area of interest: the Woomera bill? We could have— Senator Birmingham interjecting — Senator FARRELL: Senator Birmingham, you could have made a— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Edwards ): Senator Farrell, I remind you to address your remarks through the chair and not across the chamber—as the Deputy President quite rightly reminded me earlier! Senator FARRELL: Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. That is a helpful reminder at this point in the debate. I will ensure that I direct my comments through you. I direct my comments, through you, to Senator Birmingham. Let us look at another area in recent times where this government simply sat on its hands—this time in conjunction with the Greens—to block an opportunity for job creation in South Australia. We have seen what has happened with Holden, we have seen what has happened with the component industries related to Holden and we know about some of the problems with Qantas in South Australia. What did we do a couple of weeks ago? We put up a motion in this chamber to allow mining exploration in the Defence area of Woomera. It was not going to cost the federal government a zack—they did not have to commit any money. But what happened? You did not support the motion, which that could have created some jobs into the future— Senator Birmingham: Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order on the matter of relevance. Whilst many of the matters Senator Farrell is raising might be worthy of debate, and have at various times been subject to debate in this chamber, the motion before the chair, albeit an extensive and long motion, is exclusively dealing with the Australian shipbuilding industry, and Senator Farrell has thus far struggled to put more than three words together in relation to the Australian shipbuilding industry. I ask you to draw his attention to the motion that he in fact has moved. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Birmingham. There is no point of order. Senator Farrell, I draw you to the motion and the content therein. Senator FARRELL: Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. That is a very wise ruling. I know that Senator Birmingham, coming from South Australia, is personally embarrassed by the lack of action on jobs by this government. I have referred to a number of examples of it, but let us talk about the shipbuilding industry; let us talk about its importance to South Australia, and perhaps let us talk about what those South Australian senators on the other side have been doing to try to ensure that shipbuilding continues in South Australia. We all know the history of the Collins class submarines. They are terrific submarines. They were under criticism by the current Defence minister for a long time. I understand he has now come to his senses on this subject and does appreciate what a terrific submarine the Collins class is and just how important it is to Australia's defence. That began this process of constructing defence maritime ships in this country—and, of course, we want to continue that. As you would know, Mr Acting Deputy President, the Australian Submarine Corporation are responsible for this at the moment. They are currently in the process of building some air warfare destroyers. I have had the privilege on two or three occasions of going down to Techport and seeing some of these constructions. Those people who have done that—I do not know if any of the Tasmanian senators have had the opportunity to go down there—will know it is fascinating to see the way they construct these air warfare destroyers. They construct them upside down. They build them and do all the work they need to do on the ship while it is upside down, and then, at a certain point, when that construction is completed, they turn it up the correct way and add it to the rest of the ship. Just recently we had the laying-of-the-hull ceremony down at Techport. Unfortunately I was not able to attend, but it was a terrific event. Senator Birmingham: I did. Senator FARRELL: Senator Birmingham said he did. I had a funeral to attend, unfortunately. But I would have loved to have been down there to see it, because what you see at work at that point is all of the issues that relate to shipbuilding and manufacturing coming together: all of the skills of the engineers, all of the skills of the designers, all of the skills of the workers—terrific skills—coming together to construct this ship. We have another South Australian senator coming into the chamber, in Senator Ruston. They are all getting concerned, of course, because what all of the South Australian senators know is that unless we get some action from the Abbott government— Government senators interjecting— Senator FARRELL: I know you can't speak, Mr Acting Deputy President Edwards, but I know that if you could speak you would be agreeing with me on this: we need some action from the Abbott government. Senator Birmingham: Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I think it is an outrageous reflection on the chair for Senator Farrell to be verballing you in that way and suggesting that you would be agreeing with him. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you. There is no point of order, but I remind Senator Farrell not to infer my thoughts. Senator FARRELL: I can only take it from your actions that you are as deeply concerned about the lack of action of the Abbott government as I am and as the other Labor senators from South Australia are. Why are we concerned? Firstly because there is no evidence that the Abbott government understands the problems of the shipbuilding industry. They see it as a South Australian issue. We have seen how they treated Holden, we have seen how they treated component manufacturing, we have seen how they have refused to come to the aid of the mining industry to open up Woomera. There is a pattern of behaviour here of lack of concern for manufacturing. Here we have some of the most skilled workers in the country—highly paid but skilled workers—building our ships and improving our national security. It is important from the point of view of national security. We have seen over the last few days how quickly things can change in a country. Two weeks ago there was no issue in Ukraine. In the last couple of days we have seen a change in government there and we have seen what appears to be a breach of Ukraine's territory by another country. Things can change very quickly, so we need a strong defence industry. The investment in the Collins class submarines started that process. We were continuing it with the air-warfare destroyers. Former Prime Minister Rudd was able to go down to Techport and make an announcement about future projects to keep shipbuilding in this country going. What do we see with the Abbott government? We see inaction. Nothing is happening. The people in the defence shipbuilding industry in South Australia that I have been speaking with and that have an interest in this are mightily concerned that if this government simply waits for their white paper to deal with this issue, it is going to be too late. Let us look back over the last few weeks. On 25 February the CEO of BAE, Mr Allott, said that Williamstown in Victoria is under threat and that unless there is some announcement of future shipbuilding they are going to start laying off people next year. On 27 February, Mr Lindsay Stratton, the CEO of Forgacs, said they are going to be laying off 300 people and will be shut by next year. We simply cannot wait for decisions on this issue. We cannot wait for this government's inaction. We saw their inaction under Holden; we saw their inaction under Toyota and we saw their inaction on Woomera just weeks ago. We cannot afford any more inaction. What Senator Carr says is, I think, a very thoughtful resolution. What is his answer to this? He calls on the government to immediately do three things. Firstly, fast-track and make public its commitment to a revised time frame for tendering and delivery. This will provide an opportunity for all the companies involved in the manufacture of these terrific ships to come forward with proposals, and I might add that there are a lot of them—there are 1,025 suppliers who, just in this year alone, have provided $126 million worth of business. They have skills training and university courses to ensure that people have the requisite skills. Of course, we also have the Maritime Skills Centre, which contributes to all of these supply companies, ensuring we have the highest skills and best possible manufacturing. The second thing Senator Carr says we need to do is not wait for the Defence white paper process. We have to have a decision now. We cannot wait. Senator Cormann: Is this a preselection speech? Senator FARRELL: No, I have withdrawn from the preselection; they are bringing the big guns from Western Australia in here. They are bringing in the Minister for Finance. He is one of the people who could make a decision about this. One of the problems we have in this area is lack of South Australian representation in the cabinet. When there is an issue that involves South Australia there is only one lone voice. Guess who it is. It is Christopher Pyne. He is the lone voice— Senator Cormann: He is a very good minister. He is an outstanding minister. Senator FARRELL: If he is so good, why has he sat on his hands while the defence industry is coming to this government and saying, 'We need further commitments and projects to keep the defence building going.' Senator Cormann: You did nothing for six years. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Ignore the interjections. Senator FARRELL: I am tempted to respond, but I will honour your direction, Acting Deputy President. Our fate in South Australia is solely in the hands of Mr Pyne. If I were a defence worker in South Australia I would be very nervous at this point in time. We saw how he responded to Holden. We saw how he responded to the components industry. We saw how he did not come to the assistance of the mining companies that want to mine in Woomera. I would be very nervous now if I were a Defence worker. What Senator Carr says in his motion—I will read the last paragraph—is: … incorporate the long term opportunities for the Australian shipbuilding industry as a strategic priority in all future naval procurement plans. That is what he is asking for. We need to come forward with projects that will ensure all of the great skills that we have built up over 20 years in this industry and that have given us a sense of national security. As I mentioned before, the circumstances in Ukraine show us just how quickly international circumstances can change overnight. You think you are secure one day, and the next day you find that you do not have that security. The shipbuilding industry does provide us with that security, Mr Acting Deputy President Edwards. I know that you know this, but all of the South Australian senators need to get onto Senator Johnston. He sits right there; you could always grab him just before or just after question time—any time—and say to him, 'We can't sit on our hands. We can't let the shipbuilding industry go the same way that we have seen the manufacturing of cars go, and there is the lack of support for the mining industry.' We have to do something, and we have to do it now. We cannot wait any longer. These companies will start laying off labour. The workers themselves will start saying, 'We have no job security in Australia. We've got all these skills. We've gone to university courses, at Flinders University and the University of Adelaide, as well as the Maritime Skills Centre, but the skills are no good to us because this government is not prepared to commit to the national security of this country. We cannot wait for the white paper. We have to act now.