I’ll torpedo submarine deal: Shorten
The Australian
September 10, 2014
BILL Shorten has raised memories of World War II as he vowed to cancel any plan to buy completed submarines from Japan and build 12 boats for the navy in Adelaide if Labor wins the next federal election.
The Opposition Leader said the ALP would not be bound by any contracts signed by the Coalition to buy the next fleet of submarines from Japan, saying naval projects should ensure “jobs for Aussies”.
In comments that could affect the Abbott government’s commitment to closer military co-operation with Japan, Mr Shorten invoked World War II to warn against a deal with the Japanese.
“This is a government with a short memory,” he said. “In the Second World War, 366 merchant ships were sunk off Australia.”
Mr Shorten said the Coalition had lied before the election about its commitment to an Australian-built submarine as he accused it of pursuing a “bodgy” deal for cheaper off-the-shelf Japanese-designed Soryu-class submarines.
“They are contracting out the defence of Australia, they are fighting for jobs in foreign countries, not our own, and ... in uncertain times, they are playing with fire with our national security.”
Mr Shorten said he would dump any deal with Japan.
“Let me put on the record, Labor, if elected, will build submarines in Australia, unequivocally.
“If this government is committing us to 50 years and multiple billions of dollars, I don’t think that future governments automatically have to be bound to every mistake of the current government.”
It is understood that cabinet’s National Security Committee was to have signed off on some form of expression of interest in Australia obtaining Japanese submarines. But a formal contract would be a long time away, a source told The Australian.
The Australian has also been told our navy’s submariners know how good the Japanese Soryu class is because they have exercised with the boats secretly in north Asian waters.
The Soryu is said to be extremely quiet and the Americans, who have also exercised with the Soryus extensively, have urged Australia to buy them.
The Soryu submarines are built in sections that resemble a line of soft drink cans which are each then fitted out and welded together.
Those sections could be sent to Australia to be joined up in Adelaide, where the US combat system and torpedo tubes could also be fitted.
The first “flight” of two or three submarines could be built overseas by a workforce that could include key Australian personnel.
Later boats could be assembled in Australia which would give a local workforce the expertise to maintain the submarines and rebuild them when necessary.
Any shipyard jobs crisis caused by a change of submarine plans is likely to be 10 years away as it will be that long before the first steel is cut for the new submarine.
The so-called “Valley of Death” is the crunch time faced by the ship building industry when two major current projects, the three Air Warfare Destroyers and the two giant landing ships, are completed.
The Australian Business Defence Industry said that if the government abandoned plans to build the submarines in South Australia that would show a lack of strategic thinking and would have far reaching impacts on the industry.
“The government has a responsibility to provide for the defence of the nation but this is a more complex process than just focusing on the cost/capability trade-off of the submarine as a platform,” said the group’s manager, Graeme Dunk.
“Imagine having to send the submarine back to Japan every time it needs an oil change, especially during times of conflict.”
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said “it would be a monstrous act of betrayal” if the federal government did not build the submarines in Adelaide.
In Beijing, Foreign Affairs University Asia Pacific Research Centre director Su Hao said Chinese military officials would be displeased that Australia chose Japan over China in the latest submarine deal.
“If Australia and Japan’s alliance becomes very solid then China could see that as a threat and I think the relationship between Australia and China could be impacted.”
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