BIG GUNS FALL SILENT
WHERE IS THE JOBS BOOM THE POLLIES PROMISED?
AN election promise to resurrect a decade-old defence project to create 350 Geelong jobs is unlikely to ever be delivered, a political expert has warned.
Just days before the federal election, Scott Morrison announced a re-elected Liberal Party would deliver a new “self-propelled howitzer artillery system” for the Australian Army, to be built and serviced in Geelong.
The last-minute pitch would breathe new life into a project ditched by a Labor government in May 2012.
But Deakin politics expert Dr Geoff Robinson warned Geelong jobseekers not to hold their breath.
AN election promise to resurrect a dumped decade-old defence project to create 350 Geelong jobs is unlikely to ever be delivered, a political expert has warned.
Just five days before the Federal election, Scott Morrison rolled out the big guns and announced a re-elected Liberal Party would deliver a new ‘selfpropelled howitzer artillery system’ for the Australian Army, to be built and maintained in Geelong.
The last-minute election pitch would breathe new life into a project ditched by Julia Gillard’s Labor Government for budgetary reasons in May 2012.
But Deakin politics expert Dr Geoff Robinson warned Geelong jobseekers not to hold their breaths.
“I would be sceptical that anything will eventually come of this,” Dr Robinson said.
“It’s interesting that a Labor government or a Coalition government, they all have this kind of magical belief in their ability to create jobs, potentially just by taking money from somewhere else where it might already be creating jobs.”
Dr Robinson said the howitzers pledge was worryingly similar to the city’s failed bid to attract the Government’s jobs-boosting LAND 400 defence contract — which was handed to Queensland despite then-Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson’s lobbying of her own party to deliver the contract here.
The Department of Defence last week refused to say if any actions had been taken to advance the howitzer project, despite Minister of Defence Linda Reynolds’ May promise of an “accelerated approval process”.
Ms Reynolds did not respond to the Addy’s questions, with the Department of Defence instead issuing a short statement from an unnamed spokesperson.
“Defence will provide options to the Government for consideration regarding the acquisition of this capability in line with the commitment made in May 2019.”
The Advertiser had asked for specific details on what actions had been taken to advance the project.
Ms Reynolds’ May commitment was to “ensure that an Australian prime contractor can deliver a world-class platform with work beginning in Geelong before the end of 2022-23”.
The timeline would coincide with the next federal election, which Dr Robinson said could be used by the Coalition to reheat the election promise, or simply see it dumped by an incoming Labor Government without having to deliver anything.
Corio federal Labor MP Richard Marles, who is also the shadow Minister for Defence, called on the Government to reveal more details on the project. “The Government announced this commitment in the last days of the election in a bid to save Sarah Henderson,” Mr Marles said. “They now need to deliver it.”
“They have promised 350 jobs to the Geelong region — where are they?”
The May pledge to revive the acquisition of 30 self-propelled howitzers came seven years after then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard scrapped the project to save hundreds of millions of dollars in the budget in a bid to return the country to surplus.
The project had been launched in 2007 by the Howard Government, with an expensive and drawn-out tender process largely completed by a single bidder — Raytheon Australia. The self-propelled howitzers, which looks like tanks, are large 155mm guns mounted to motorised tracks or wheels.
IT’S INTERESTING THAT A LABOR GOVERNMENT OR A COALITION GOVERNMENT, THEY ALL HAVE THIS KIND OF MAGICAL BELIEF IN THEIR ABILITY TO CREATE JOBS, POTENTIALLY JUST BY TAKING MONEY FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE WHERE IT MIGHT ALREADY BE CREATING JOBS. DR GEOFF ROBINSON