A re-elected Morrison Government will invest up to $1 billion to increase our defence capabilities by building three naval vessels in Henderson, Western Australia \u2013 two mine warfare support vessels and a hydrographic vessel.
\nThis will ensure we maintain the 1,000 new jobs created to support continuous naval shipbuilding in West Australia and boost the state\u2019s economy.
\nPrime Minister Scott Morrison said the Australian Defence Force would continue to receive record funding to keep Australians safe.
\n\u201cI want to keep Australians safe and secure, while ensuring our economy is strong,\u201d Mr Morrison said.
\n\u201cOur Government is investing more than $200 billion in Australia\u2019s defence capability over the next 10 years \u2013 the nation\u2019s biggest investment in Defence in decades.
\n\u201cThis commitment in West Australia adds to the 31 minor war vessels already being built in the state – built in Australia, by Australian workers, with Australian steel \u2013 in stark contrast to Labor, who committed to build no naval vessels in Australia.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re backing the West with our commitment to make WA a home of continuous naval shipbuilding in Australia and the Henderson precinct is crucial to Australia\u2019s defence capability.\u201d
\nOur plan to construct two further mine warfare support vessels at the Henderson shipyard precinct in West Australia is part of our new mine warfare strategy.
\nWe will bring forward the replacement of the Huon-class mine hunters from the 2030s to the mid-2020s, as part of our new Maritime Mine Countermeasures Program (to be known as SEA 1905).
\nOver $1 billion has been allocated for the Defence Integrated Investment Program to deliver the full scope of SEA 1905, including the building of the two mine warfare support vessels and investment in new mine countermeasure systems.
\nWe are also committed to constructing a hydrographic vessel at the Henderson shipyard precinct.
\nThis vessel is part of our Hydrographic Data Collection Capability project (SEA 2400). As part of this project, we will build and acquire a Strategic Military Survey Capability to undertake strategic collection of maritime environmental data as part of the military survey function.
\nFirst pass approval of this hydrographic military survey vessel is expected in fourth quarter 2019, with the build commencing in the early 2020s, at Henderson.
\nWe believe West Australia is strategically important to our nation\u2019s defence, facing the Indian Ocean and as a gateway to our west and north.
\nUnder the Coalition\u2019s massive $200 billion defence capability investment over the next decade, West Australia\u2019s defence industry is booming, supporting investment and creating jobs.
\nWA is home to over 6,400 Defence personnel and has a number of key bases, including Fleet Base West, HMAS Stirling, Campbell Barracks, RAAF Base Pearce, RAAF Base Learmonth, RAAF Base Curtin and the Harold E Holt Communications Station.
\nWA is home to ongoing upgrade and sustainment work for our existing maritime fleet, including:<\/p>\n
The Coalition is also investing around $1.5 billion on infrastructure associated with our expanded maritime fleet and shipbuilding in WA, including:<\/p>\n
Next year, the Morrison Government will have restored this nation\u2019s investment in Defence to two per cent of our GDP.
\nThis record investment creates tens of thousands of highly-skilled, high-paid jobs around the country and creating a sovereign industrial capability that can support our Defence forces for decades.
\nWhen Labor was last in government, it made similar commitments – until it\u2019s economic mismanagement caused it to slash over $18 billion from Defence, causing Defence investment to fall to just 1.56 per cent of GDP \u2013 the lowest level since before the Second World War.
\nLabor delayed 119 Defence projects, reduced another 43 projects, and cancelled eight projects altogether. This placed our security at risk and the loss of thousands of defence industry jobs across the country. Labor\u2019s mismanagement created their naval shipbuilding \u2018valley of death\u2019.
\nBy contrast, the Coalition Government has made over 173 project-related decisions since the release of our 2016 Defence White Paper: we\u2019re getting on with the job of delivering the equipment and facilities our Defence Forces need, and supporting tens of thousands of new high-skill, high-paying Australian jobs.
\nTo keep Australians safe and secure, we need to keep our economy strong. Only the Morrison Government can be trusted to keep Australia safe and secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A re-elected Morrison Government will invest up to $1 billion to increase our defence capabilities by building three naval vessels in Henderson, Western Australia \u2013 two mine warfare support vessels and a hydrographic vessel. This will ensure we maintain the 1,000 new jobs created to support continuous naval shipbuilding in West Australia and boost the … Continue reading “Boost For WA Economy and Jobs With New Naval Commitment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}