If ASC don't get new orders then ideally there would be other jobs for the workers while the management is sidelined. I understand that affects some 2,200 whereas Holden and parts supply jobs could affect another 13,000. They seem to have been forgotten. Compounding SA's economic woes is the likely steep increase in the price of natural gas from next year. It provides half of SA electricity despite or perhaps because of their large amount of wind generation.

In my opinion SA's best prospect is extending the uranium industry. That is go beyond mining to enrichment and power generation. Export predictable power to Victoria and NSW instead of frequently importing dirty coal power. Many of the skilled workers in car making and naval construction could move to the new industries. Otherwise SA will become a big retirement village with the young people having moved out.

The workmanship and cost blowouts of ASC are not the fault of the "workers" but are of course because of management and oversight. This should go right up to the ministers of defence.
If we are going to "offshore" our complete defence equipment requirements then let us go the whole hog and hire the US navy and air force to do our fighting for us.
I am sure that they would only be too pleased if we donated bases to them all around Australia in exchange.

The lack of logic or economic expertise in the article is quite revealing, and probably explains why our economy is now spiraling ever downward!
First the author bags our ability to build subs/ships, all while ignoring the foreign orders for our very fast ferries, or the fact WE developed C.A.D. and C.A.C that drove the price of world beating (fits like a jigsaw) shipbuilding down through the floor boards!

Or that government involvement, and the political on again off again ordering, has virtually forced our own home grown expertise to relocate offshore; as their only means of employment longevity.

What does much much smaller Norway have what we don't?
Clear eyed pragmatism that places the national interest first perhaps!?
They don't have our iron ore resources, nor our locally invented direct reduction steel smelting!
Albeit, they may have encouraged some of our native expertise to their shores.

We should just crack on building these subs and ships here; and if we don't have all the expertise, emulate much small Norway and import it!

Simply put, and it's an economic fact, that money spent here, goes around and around in our economy, and up to seven times; doing economic work and economic stimulation before finally exhausting!

Please consider, get the Japanese or the Germans, with MUCH HIGHER labor costs, to build a dozen of them for us, with all the then inherent economic flow on benefits, (up to seven billion per sub) flowing through to them!
Why we can even ship the iron ore over; [fuss and fume over inevitable cost blow outs,] and then sail the subs made from it back here! Then refit them, with most of our native expertise gone, (half a bill per sub?) so we can work with our allies?

As a lamb chop chewing Kechovitch would say, you know it makes perfect sense!
It's the economy stupid!
Rhrosty.

It does seem that the rhetoric on ASC had dramatically changed since the pre-election commitments from Senator Johnston :

http://www.senatorjohnston.com.au/Media/OtherMedia/tabid/71/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/326/Doorstop--Future-submarine-project.aspx

WHAT ASC STANDS FOR:

ASC has been established as a magnet for Federal government Dollars for the Air Warfare Destroyers and coming Future Submarine build.

Workers and managers in ASC who continue on their intentional go-slow, over-budget, over-time way-of-doing-things are true patriots for South Australia.

For ASC to cut costs or be more efficient is to deny South Australia an income.

It really does say it all, that Defence Minister, David Johnston is under attack for telling the truth.

Garbage Robert LePage, The workers at ASO are typical of union controlled government owned or funded manufacturing.

They do as little as possible, take as long as possible to do a job as badly as possible, for as much pay as possible. They produce garbage, so by association they are garbage. Having looked closely at their work, no amount of money would get my son to serve on anything built there.

Yes Rhrosty we did develop catamaran very fast ferries, but did you not notice, that was private enterprise, definitely not an overpaid, union controlled government shop.

I might mention I ran 2 of those ferries in the Whitsundays. I was extremely glad ours were built by NQEA in Cairns. A competitor in MacKay had one of those built on Tasmania. They chassed a single crack in the hull, one of many actually, for 56Ft before they finally stopped it by rebuilding a lot of that part of the hull. We had a number of cracks in the hull around one engine bay. We chassed the problem for months, had to rebuild that part of the hull in dry dock to fix it.

It was fortunate we had 16 Ft tides, so we could put the thing on the beach, beside the jetty once a fortnight for 6 months to patch it up. If we had been paying commercially for those patch up jobs, it would have sent us broke. Yes we can deign some great stuff, build some things, but I would hate to have to fight in most of the stuff. It is a big enough fight just to keep it floating.

The southern unionists NQEA had to employ to increase their local workforce when they got the patrol boat contract very nearly sent them broke, with their, claims, attitude & lack of ethics. You could not give them a government contract at any price today.