On the 30th of March, Australia’s defence industry calls on the Federal Government to commit to maximum Australian industry involvement in Phase 2 of the Army’s Land 400 project as it announces its down-select of the final two or three contenders by the end of March.
Chris Burns, national spokesperson of the Australian Made Defence campaign said industry will be very closely scrutinising the Government’s commitment to insisting on maximum Australian industry involvement in the project, and whether it is consistent with the sentiment outlined in the recently released Defence Industry Policy Statement (DIPS).
“It’s good and well to have a policy, but Government will need to do a lot better than the miserly five percent or $100 million worth of Australian industry work in the $2 billion replenishment ship project they have just sent to Spain,” said Mr Burns.
“Successive governments have dithered for over a decade with Land 400, but this Government indicated it would announce the successful winners of the down-select by the end of March 2016.
“If industry is to achieve the ambitious project milestones that the Government has set it to deliver Land 400, it needs to make these announcements before the end of the month.”
The opening statement of the Government’s new industry policy statement outlines: “Australia’s defence industry is essential to the operations of the Australian Defence Force and to the capability we need to protect Australia and our national interests”.
“Land 400 will be the next test of the Government’s commitment to its own industry policy,” said Mr Burns.
“Technology and innovation is transferred throughout the economy when governments support maximum Australian industry involvement in projects.
“In Defence we also need to maintain access to intellectual property which is key to preserving the capacity to maintain, upgrade and repair vital military hardware in times of trouble.
“Australia’s defence industry played a pivotal role in the construction and sustainment of the ASLAV and M113 APC fleets, building over 400 turrets for the ASLAV family of vehicles and completely rebuilding and upgrading the Army’s fleet of aging Vietnam era M113 APCs.
“The Government can have confidence in insisting on the highest possible levels of Australian industry involvement in the construction and sustainment of the Army’s future fleets given our demonstrated skills in making and maintaining armoured fighting vehicles.
“As an isolated island nation it is imperative that Australia has a strong defence industry base to assure our national security and sovereignty. It is also a ‘no-brainer’ that it is far smarter to invest our taxpayers’ dollars into the Australian economy rather than send them offshore,” said Mr Burns.
