Navy diving teams set to shut up shop

THE Royal Australian Navy will close down its Australian Naval Reserve diving teams in Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth from tomorrow.

The Mercury understands the Hobart closure will affect up to 14 naval reservists, who earn between $5000 and $20,000 tax free a year, and a further 100 divers in teams across the country.

Hobart Commander Paul Gregg said he could confirm that the team was closing on June 30 but he did not know the reasons why.

The Tasmanian Navy Reserve divers, known as Navy Diving Team 10, were deployed in 2015 to retrieve a 2700kg anchor when it broke from the HMAS Sydney and fell to the bottom of the River Derwent between Rosny Point and Macquarie Wharf.

Over the years members were also deployed to the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Canada.

The team, which includes firemen, transport workers, tourist operators, an engineer and a financial adviser, commonly train once a week for roles which included ship surveying and maintenance.

The last RAN facility in Tasmania to close was the HMAS Huon in 1994.

A spokesman for Defence Minister Marise Payne said the closure was the result of the declining number of reserve divers plus compliance and governance issues.

Defence intended to integrate some Reserve diving teams around Australia into the “Navy’s mine warfare and clearance diving workforce” from June 30, he said.

“Navy’s mine warfare and clearance diving capability will increase significantly in the near future and the integration will increase Reserve employment opportunities within the mine warfare and clearance diving community,” he said.

“Navy will continue to have a permanent presence in Tasmania to support Reservists and the clearance dive teams when they deploy to an area.”

An email distributed to team members from RAN Captain Steve O’Brien said the decision had not been taken lightly.

“[It] has been greatly probed and questioned by Fleet over many months in order to understand the situation fully and how integration will be achieved successfully,” he said.

Captain O’Brien said that he and key staff had been in- structed earlier in the year not to visit each site and explain the recommendation and rationale.

“However we are now free to do so,” he said.

Members of the teams will be required to return diving equipment such as wetsuits, fins, face masks, weight belts and diving knives.