The federal opposition has called for “a bipartisan solution to the gridlock” surrounding the acquisition of Australia’s next fleet of submarines, suggesting that Swedish designers should be included in the process.
The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, will use a speech to a submarine summit in Adelaide on Wednesday to outline the process the government should adopt instead of the “competitive evaluation process” promised by the prime minister, Tony Abbott.
In extracts of the speech released in advance, Shorten said the future submarine fleet was “the most significant procurement decision of our time” and the construction and maintenance should be done in Australia.
Shorten’s proposals are not an election policy but take the form of suggestions to the current government, which might have signed contracts before the next election, making it unlikely that Labor could begin a new process from scratch.
Shorten said any early error “would be compounded and magnified over the life of the project” so it was “essential that we take the time to get this decision right”.
“I have come here today to offer the government a way forward, a bipartisan solution to the gridlock that currently holds sway; a solution that will deliver the best submarines, at the best price; a solution for high-quality Australian submarines, and high-skill Australian jobs,” he said in the prepared remarks.
Shorten’s proposed competitive tender process would begin with a six-month-long project definition study.
Australia would invite the most prominent non-nuclear submarine designers from Germany, France, Japan and Sweden to be involved in the process, with each receiving $7m in funding from the government to participate.
The Coalition has not proposed including Sweden in its competitive evaluation process.
Shorten said after the request for proposals, the government should “down-select two submarine builders to provide final submarine designs and fixed priced contracts”.
“The two parties selected to provide this information would receive an additional $8m to provide more detailed tender bids,” he said.
“There are three non-negotiable conditions for these tenders: a guarantee of submarine performance; Australian access to all intellectual property; and the next generation of submarines must be built, maintained and sustained in Australia.”
The defence minister, Kevin Andrews, is among several other speakers due to address the submarine summit. Extracts of his speech were not available in advance.
