Concerns that South Australia wouldn’t be able to get its defence industries message through to federal Defence Minister David Johnston were dispelled yesterday in a two-and-a-half hour meeting in Perth.
Johnston, a WA Senator, hosted Defence SA officials at his office on Tuesday before they embarked on a tour of the Australian Submarine Corporation’s ASC West submarine repair facility at Henderson, 35km south west of Perth.
It follows a meeting between South Australia’s Premier Jay Weatherill and minister Johnston last week to resolve political fallout from the defection of now SA Defence Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith’s from the Liberal Party.
“Minister Johnson agreed to meet with Martin and accepts that the freezing out of our Defence Industries Minister had gone on for too long and agreed to meet with him in Perth and that meeting’s been arranged,” Weatherill said.
“It was a successful and lengthy meeting in which we canvassed a range of issues from submarines to Air Warfare Destroyers, Land 400* and other defence industry projects,” Hamilton-Smith told InDaily.
“It was productive, friendly and cooperative; there is a solid working relationship and further meetings are planned.
“The South Australian government has ample avenues to present its case.”
The Perth meeting appear to scuttle claims by senior federal Liberal MPs that Hamilton-Smith would be cut out of any discussions.
Last week he was in Cairns at a national and state trade ministers conference chaired by federal Trade Minister Andrew Robb.
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The state Liberals were rocked in May this year when Hamilton-Smith, a former Liberal leader, accepted an offer to join the Weatherill Cabinet as an independent.
*LAND 400 is a program proposing to increase the Army’s mounted close combat capability by providing armoured fighting vehicles with improved firepower, protection, mobility and communication characteristics.
LAND 400 vehicles include a Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV), an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), a Manoeuvre Support Vehicle (MSV) and an Integrated Training System (ITS).
It proposes a staged retirement of the in-service Australian Light Armoured Vehicle (ASLAV) and the M113AS4 Armoured Personnel Carrier fleets starting in 2020.
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