Gillard Government Leaves Defence Industry Up in Arms
17/02/11
Australia’s defence industry is in crisis and the tax payer will again be left to foot the bill for the Gillard Labor Government’s inability to manage the Defence portfolio.
Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel, Stuart Robert, today slammed the Gillard Labor Government over its continuing failure to manage the Defence portfolio and fix the parlous state of Australia’s defence industry.
‘When the Defence White Paper was released in 2009, defence industry was told to prepare for a marked increase in work in light of the ambitious acquisition program outlined in the White Paper,’ Mr Robert said.
‘In response, industry increased workforce numbers, begun undertaking skilling programs and invested in developing additional infrastructure. Unfortunately, the expected work never materialised and has instead been cancelled or deferred in order to offset wasteful government expenditure in other portfolio areas.’
Thales Australia Chairman Paul McClintock, who is also the Gillard Labor Government’s COAG Reform Council Chief said yesterday that the current situation has resulted in “…industry layoffs and question marks about the viability of continued [defence] investment in Australia.”
Mr Robert said that tax payers would once again pay for the Gillard Labor Government’s failures.
‘The end game of industry’s expansion and subsequent contraction, as a result of the Gillard Labor Government’s flawed policies, is that future equipment will cost more as industry tries to recoup costs,’ Mr Robert said.
‘This means the Government will be paying a premium worth hundreds of millions of dollars for future equipment, which in turn will be passed on to the tax payer all because the Gillard Labor Government failed to manage the Defence portfolio and deliberately misled industry with regard to the future Defence acquisition program.’
‘What compounds the Government’s folly is that to fix the problem it alone created, the Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare, has announced yet another layer of bureaucracy to do what his Government should have already been doing.’
‘The Gillard Labor Government has been derelict in its duty to manage the Defence portfolio.’