Aus PM Promises $1bln for New Navy Ships

The Prime Minister of Australia and leader of the Liberal Party Scott Morrison is promising $1 billion to build three naval ships in Western Australia to create 1000 jobs if the coalition wins the election.

"We will build two mine warfare support vessels and a hydrographic vessel in Perth," he said in an announcement.

On the WA shipbuilding funding Morrison said it would ensure jobs created in the sector would continue to the 2030s.

"This commitment in West Australia adds to the 31 minor war vessels already being built in the state - built in Australia, by Australian workers, with Australian steel," local media quoted him as saying.

A Morrison government would bring forward the replacement of the Huon-class mine hunters from the 2030s to the mid-2020s, ensuring the jobs created would not be cut.

First flagged in the 2016 white paper, Defence put out a call to ship designers for ideas for a new hydrographic vessel in January.

“First pass approval of this hydrographic military survey vessel is expected in fourth quarter 2019, with the build commencing in the early 2020s, at Henderson,” he said.