5 years ago
THE LIBERALS’ DEFENCE INDUSTRY LEGACY: CUTS, NOT JOBS
THE HON RICHARD MARLES MP
Another 223 jobs lost at ASC is a sadly familiar story for workers in South Australia.
The Liberals promised last year that the valley of death was over and that the upturn in shipbuilding employment would continue. Fast-forward a few months and the reality is starkly different. Jobs are still disappearing and ASC staff numbers continue to fall, having almost halved over the last three years.
The Liberals could have done something about this. They could have adopted Labor’s plan to build Australia’s new supply ships here. Instead, they sent that work overseas.
For all the promises and plans, this is the Liberals’ legacy – job cuts after job cuts after job cuts.
A competent government would have seen this coming. A caring government would have stepped up and prevented the loss of a fifth of ASC’s shipbuilding workforce. This government is neither, and the result is that more Australians lose their livelihood. The only jobs the Liberals care about are their own.