The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has expressed disappointment after the Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare, awarded the contract to ST Marine, ahead of an Australian bid from Thales and Forgacs.

The AMWU had called for the work to be done in Australia, citing benefits to skills development and local employment, which would have overcome cost factors.

“It’s a missed opportunity for Australia and it is a major disappointment that Defence would choose a low cost operation in Asia where safety standards for workers are a major issue,” said AMWU National Secretary, Dave Oliver.

“It is also a lost opportunity for Australian taxpayer dollars to create jobs for workers at Forgacs in Newcastle, who would have supplied the fabricated steel to Garden Island for the project.”

Despite the setback, the union welcomed comments from the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) that ‘on-going repair and maintenance of Navy ships happens in Australia and will stay in Australia’.

DMO also announced that between $12 and $17 million worth of work will be undertaken to HMA Ships Kanimbla and Manoora in the Sydney region, beginning in the next two weeks.

The union also expects that upcoming work on the HMAS Newcastle will be done in Australia, as per DMO’s re-commitment to maintain ‘ongoing and regular maintenance in Australia’.

This work will go some way to addressing concerns the AMWU had about the potential for redundancies, and subsequent loss of skills and capacity in the lead up to a major round of defence spending beginning in the next year.