Malcolm Turnbull News

Thousands of jobs will be created in South Australia as a result of the Malcolm Turnbull  Government’s announcement that Australia’s nine Future Frigates will be designed by BAE and built by ASC Shipbuilding, says South Australian  Liberal Government. Premier Steven Marshall said that South Australia will be the beneficiary of this $35 billion decision with many local businesses in the supply chain winning a share of the Coalition’s historic investment. “South Australia is now unquestionably the centre of naval shipbuilding in Australia,” said Premier Marshall. “This $35 billion program will deliver unprecedented economic benefit to the South Australian economy, with over 100 businesses already pre-qualifying with BAE to be part of the project.

Deal covers nine anti-submarine warfare ships; BAE beat Italy's Fincantieri and Spain's Navantia. Britain's BAE Systems PLC has won a A$35 billion ($25.7 billion) contest to deliver anti-submarine warfare frigates for the Australian navy, the Australian government said on Thursday. The nine ships, to be designed by BAE and built by government-owned ASC Shipbuilding in Australia are expected to underpin the country's maritime combat capability for decades to come, the Australian government said in a statement. "The Hunter class will provide the Australian Defence Force with the highest levels of lethality and deterrence our major surface combatants need in periods of global uncertainty," it said of the ships. Australia is a steadfast U.S.

Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Saturday the country will send a military patrol aircraft to monitor North Korean vessels suspected of transferring prohibited goods in defiance of United Nations sanctions.Canada also plans to deploy patrol aircraft for such activities, and surveillance planes from both countries will be based in the U.S. military’s Kadena air base on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, the Japanese government said in a separate statement.The…

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will on Tuesday hail the role of international law in settling regional conflicts, comments apparently aimed at bolstering Australian efforts to build a coalition against Chinese assertiveness. Bishop, in a speech ahead of a special meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Sydney, will not name China but will argue that international law will stabilise a region strained by rival claims in the South China Sea. "The rules-based order is designed to regulate behaviour and rivalries of and between states…

The much awaited announcement for the replacement to the current Armidale Class patrol boats was announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at Russell Offices in Canberra. Lürssen was named as the prime contractor for the 12 new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) with the Australian PV80 variant. It will be 80 metres in length with a displacement of 1700 tonnes and a draught of 4 metres. The vessels will be fitted with a 40mm gun for self-protection, three 8.4m sea boats, state of the art sensors as well as command and communication systems. This will allow the OPVs to operate alongside Australian Border Force vessels, other Australian Defence Force units and our regional partners.

Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and Timor-Leste Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, announced that Timor Leste would take two of Austal’s Guardian Class Pacific Patrol Boats (PPBs). When contracted this will increase the total production quantity to 21 from the 19 already committed. Following on from a visit to Austal’s dedicated patrol boat facility earlier that day, Prime Minister Alkatiri joined Prime Minister Turnbull to make the announcement, heralding a step forward in regional cooperation.

The Royal Australian Navy is hosting the biennial Sea Power Conference with senior naval delegations from around the world descending on Sydney for three days of discussions and Navy-to-Navy engagements. Run alongside the Pacific 2017 international maritime exposition, Sea Power Conference is Navy’s premier gathering of naval chiefs and this year will explore the broad theme of ‘The Navy and the Nation’, focusing on maritime identity, the significance of maritime economics and use of the oceans. Delivering the keynote address at the welcome breakfast, the Prime Minister, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull, said Sea Power Conference was a hallmark event for Defence and Australia.

The Australian government announced a $89 billion (US$66.2 billion) naval shipbuilding plan, based mostly in Adelaide. The program will produce 12 submarines, nine frigates and 12 offshore patrol vessels for the Australian navy as well as 19 Pacific patrol boats to be given to neighboring countries. AFP quoted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying that the largest peacetime naval investment package - first flagged in 2015 to replace its ageing fleets - would boost local industry, with up to 5,000 jobs created in shipbuilding directly and double that in the supply chain. "This is truly nation-building, a great national enterprise and it brings with it that enormous employment boost. It is unashamedly nationalistic," Malcolm said.

Australia's conservative government unveiled a radical plan on Thursday to restrict exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at times when domestic shortages push up local prices, aiming to ease soaring energy costs for local manufacturers. The plan would allow Australia's resources minister to impose controls on LNG exports on advice from the market operator and regulator, as the government seeks to cap domestic gas prices, which have become a political hot potato. "It's not a threat. This will be export controls.

A parking nightmare in Sydney harbour left the giant cruise liner Radiance of the Seas unable to dock because the single berth big enough to take her was already occupied. With a tight schedule to meet, the cruise organisers were forced to pay half a million dollars early last month to hire a flotilla of small vessels to ferry 2,500 passengers ashore, and bring back more waiting to embark for the next voyage. "We have not done something like this ever anywhere else in the world," says Adam Goldstein, president and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "It was completely foreseeable going back almost a decade that Sydney didn't have the infrastructure ultimately to support the ongoing growth in business," he adds.

DCNS Australia celebrated the founding of its Australian headquarters in Keswick, Adelaide, which will be dedicated to delivering the Future Submarine Program. The ceremony was attended by Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, Minister for Defense Industry, Christopher Pyne MP, Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister for Defense and a number of parliamentarians and defense sector figures. “This is an important initial milestone in DCNS’ decades long commitment to the design and construction of 12 regionally superior submarines in Adelaide…

Construction is underway for the second 70m Catamaran crew boat sister ship to the Muslim Magomayev, designed by Incat Crowther. Muslim Magomayev is a first-of-type vessel which Incat Crowther developed in close conjunction with Caspian Marine Services (CMS). Incat Crowther has undertaken extensive support work in the field, including involvement in engineering for the fitting of an Ampellmann walk-to-work stabilized access platform, making it the first catamaran to have such a system and its structure fully integrated into its design. The operational success of the vessel has led CMS to order a second unit, with construction having well advanced at Austal Ships’ Western Australian shipyard.

Austal Limited welcomed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to the company’s Henderson, Western Australia shipyard, demonstrating the facility’s naval shipbuilding capabilities, innovation and export success. Following the recent awarding of the $305 million Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement (PPBR) contract, comprising 19 vessels made from Australian steel, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to meet Austal’s shipbuilding team that will deliver the program for the Commonwealth of Australia.

China and the United States should manage their differences over disputed waters in the South China Sea constructively, one of China's top military officials has said. Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission, told General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the two sides should "refrain from actions detrimental to the relations between the two countries and the two militaries", state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday. Fang and Dunford discussed the South China Sea in a video link-up on Thursday, it said. The discussion comes at a time of heightened tension between China and the United States…

Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joined Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Tim Barrett, AO, CSC, RAN, and friends and family at Garden Island, Sydney, to farewell the 229 Royal Australian Navy personnel onboard HMAS Darwin as the ship sailed for the Middle East region. Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer, CSC and Bar, RAN, spoke to the assembled crowd and noted that while most Australians were spending the festive season with their loved ones, Darwin was deploying on an important mission…

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) will investigate the leak of classified documents about the timeframe for building Australia's new fleet of submarines. The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered the investigation. A report in The Australian newspaper has referenced "several sections of the draft white paper" that was produced under former prime minister Tony Abbott and former defence minister Kevin Andrews. The papers show that under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott's reign, the plan was to bring new 12 submarines into service by the mid-2020s. The story published information from a classified draft of the defence white paper written while Abbott was PM and while Kevin Andrews was defence minister.

Australia will speed up plans to build more naval vessels in domestic shipyards, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday, making an announcement that could find favour with voters just weeks ahead of a likely federal election. Naval shipbuilding is a key part of a plan unveiled in February to boost defence spending by nearly A$30 billion ($23.02 billion) over the next 10 years. To speed up the plan, the construction of 12 offshore patrol vessels, worth A$3 billion ($2.30 billion) would now start in 2018, Turnbull said, though the government has still to award the contract. "Putting our navy in the right situation to keep us safe and putting our naval ship building industry in the right place to build the ships we need for the future is a great national endeavour…

Japan's advanced attack Soryu submarine carried out drills with Australia's navy on Tuesday as a German company launched a campaign to advertise its expertise - as a race for a A$50 billion contract to build Australia's next submarine fleet neared a climax. Industry sources told Reuters the Australian government is speeding up its decision on the contract - France is the other major bidder - with a winner now expected to be announced by the end of the month. Australia intends to buy 12 new submarines, a centrepiece of its defence strategy unveiled in February, which called for an increase in military spending of nearly A$30 billion over the next 10 years to protect strategic and trade interests in the Asia-Pacific.

France's state-owned naval contractor DCNS Group has won a A$50bn ($40 billion) contract to build 12 submarines for the Australian Navy, beating bids from Japan and Germany. Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, announced that DCNS awarded tender over Germany and Japan to build fleet of Barracuda-class submarines in South Australia. The decision to build a new fleet of submarines in partnership with DCNS represented “a momentous national endeavour,” he said. The Shortfin Barracuda submarines will be built in Adelaide using Australian steel, creating 2,800 jobs, he said. French President Francois Hollande hailed the decision as historic.

Fleet of 12 submarines to be built in South Australia; decision has political implications at home, abroad. France has beaten Japan and Germany to win a A$50 billion ($40 billion) deal to build a fleet of 12 submarines for Australia, one of the world's most lucrative defence contracts, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Tuesday. The victory for state-owned naval contractor DCNS Group underscored France's strengths in developing a compelling military-industrial bid, and is a blow for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to develop defence export capabilities as part of a more muscular security agenda. Reuters earlier reported that DCNS would be announced as the winner, citing sources with knowledge of the process.

Ousting of Japan ally PM Abbott opened door to rivals; Tokyo slow to respond to new competitive process. In 2014, a blossoming friendship between Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe looked to have all but sewn up a $40 billion submarine deal. Then French naval contractor DCNS hatched a bold and seemingly hopeless plan to gatecrash the party. Almost 18 months later, France this week secured a remarkable come-from-behind victory on one of the world's most lucrative defense deals. The result: Tokyo's dream of fast-tracking a revival of its arms export industry is left in disarray. Interviews with more than a dozen Japanese…

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Monday he was committed to building all of a new Australian submarine fleet in Australia, apparently contradicting the French contractor who said last week the deal would create jobs in France. Valls stopped off in Australia while headed to New Zealand for a scheduled visit, just days after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said France had beaten out Japan and Germany for the A$50 billion ($38 billion) contract. Valls said he would personally oversee the drafting of the contract, one of the world's biggest defence deals, between France's state-owned naval contractor DCNS Group and Australia over the next few months. "We would like to conclude as soon as possible this contract," Valls told reporters through an interpreter after meeting Turnbull.

Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced her government's support on Friday for a German arms manufacturer's bid to win a $35.7 billion (A$50 billion) contract from Australia to build it a new fleet of submarines. Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and France's state-controlled naval contractor DCNS are competing with Japan for the deal, seen in part as an Australian effort to counter Chinese assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region. "The German government supports the German bid…