THE HON GREG COMBET MP
Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
034/2008
COMBET CHAIRS INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE IN ADELAIDE
Greg Combet, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, today
chaired a roundtable meeting with representatives of the South Australian
Government, unions and the defence industry sector.
“To ensure the Australian Defence Force is properly equipped to protect
Australia’s people and interests, the Government has committed to growing
the defence budget at an average of three per cent in real terms in every year
to 2017-18, an additional two years beyond earlier announcements,” Mr
Combet said.
“However a number of problems such as skills shortages, an ageing
workforce and barriers to entry to the defence market are making it difficult to
increase our industry capacity to meet the growing demand.
“The Roundtable provides the opportunity for stakeholders to provide their
ideas on how to overcome such problems directly to me and to Defence.
Defence and industry need to work together if Australian companies are to
provide the support the ADF needs.
“It is very important that stakeholders such as state governments, unions and
large and small defence companies all get an opportunity to comment on and
contribute to defence industry policy settings,” Mr Combet said.
“The Government has made it clear that we will not be returning to industry
policy of old, meaning there will be no offsets or mandatory local content
rules. The Government expects industry to be competitive and able to deliver
the capabilities needed by the ADF.
“The Government is keen to hear from the industry about how to address the
challenges they face and how we can help them increase their productivity so
they remain competitive.
“State Governments have a vital role to play when it comes to the provision of
infrastructure and skills training and I am pleased that the Deputy Premier of
South Australia, Kevin Foley, was able to attend and hear from those around
the table,” said Mr Combet.
Mr Combet also discussed with the participants a number of initiatives
implemented by the Rudd Labor Government over the last six months that
would benefit defence industry including:
Australian Industry Capability Program to help local competitive Australian
companies access the global supply chains of large defence companies;
The Defence and Industry ePortal to help the Australian defence industry
advertise its capabilities to customers and other suppliers both within and
outside of Australia;
Defence Export Unit to help Australian Defence Industry take their
products to the international market;
Measures to combat the skills shortage including $1.9 billion over the next
five years to fund up to 630,000 new training places, and $2.5 billion over
the next decade to establish Trade Training Centres in secondary schools;
and
Enterprise Connect and Manufacturing Centres to help Industry find and
adopt the latest technology, get help in solving problems and adopt new
business processes.
“The Government is currently considering a number of further initiatives
designed to help industry address the challenges they face and expected
some announcements would be made later this year following further
consultation with the industry and relevant stakeholders,” said Mr Combet.
However, Mr Combet added that “Government expects all defence companies
and the unions to play a major role in addressing the challenges facing
defence industry and not to just sit back and expect Government to provide all
of the answers.”
The Roundtable consisted of about 20 participants including representatives
from the large prime contractors as well as small- and medium-sized
companies, industry associations, unions and the State Government.
Media contacts:
Rod Hilton (Greg Combet):
02 6277 4771 or 0458 276 619
Defence Media Liaison:
02 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664
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