By Cameron Weston
SPECULATION has again arisen about the long-term future of the Tenix Williamstown shipyard after the final Anzac frigate was delivered to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN)last week.
Premier and Member for Williamstown Steve Bracks expressed concern during an interview before the ship was handed over.
“Our task is to try to find some further activity here on site,” he said.
“If you lose this deep water port facility you will never get back access to shipbuilding activities here in Melbourne again.”
Tenix is building two patrol boats for the Royal New Zealand Navy and is involved in a $2 billion joint bid with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia to construct two amphibious ships for the RAN.
The joint bid with Navantia is increasingly seen as vital to the future of the company after it lost a $3 billion contract to Adelaide-based Australian Submarine Corporation last year to build three destroyers for the RAN.
Daffy, a pipe fitter who has been working at Tenix for 16 years, said uncertainty was part of life for workers at Tenix.
He said the New Zealand patrol boat contract was keeping workers in jobs, but said there were no guarantees after that.
“They (Tenix) are going for more contracts but there will only be 18 months to two more years work if they don’t get them.”
“We’ve gone through a lot of redundancies in the past five years. Everybody just gets used to it now.”
Liam Bathgate from Tenix said the company was “committed to the future of Williamstown and naval shipbuilding” but conceded that there were no guarantees.
“Naval shipbuilding is a lumpy business, if you’re in the game you’ve got to be prepared for that.
“We continue to actively seek contracts both here and overseas.
“We will win some of those and we will lose others. It’s just the nature of the industry.”
Mr Bathgate said Tenix was looking at building components of ships constructed by other companies if it could not secure whole-ship contracts in the future.
Dave Oliver, Victorian secretary with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), one of the biggest unions at the Tenix site, said it was vital the Bracks Government followed through on assurances it gave when Tenix lost the destroyer contract.
Mr Oliver said Mr Bracks promised at the time to “take all necessary steps to ensure the Williamstown dockyard would remain a viable operation” and may now be called upon to deliver on his promise.
He said the State Government had gone in to bat for the airline and automotive industries recently and hoped they would do the same for shipbuilding, helping to sell Tenix’s credentials overseas.
“We want them to market Victoria and for work that is being done offshore to come back into the state.”
He said Victoria had a lot to lose if Tenix downsized or relocated.
“The concern now is the future of the yard because currently there are irreplaceable skills that reside in the yard at the moment.
“If they let people go, those unique skills will be lost forever.”
Trades Hall Secretary Brian Boyd said it was no secret that last year’s failed bid for the destroyer contract had hurt Tenix and eroded confidence in the company’s future.
“We always knew this would be the crunch time because of that.”
But Mr Boyd said the current geo-political climate offered new opportunities for Tenix.
“The way the world is developing, defence and shipbuilding is still a crucial industry. For Victoria, we need to maintain that manufacturing base.”
