Back in the 30,s the government kept shipbuilding apprentices working through the depression by building ships such as the steam tug 'Wattle'.We need to keep these valuable employees skills rather than ship them overseas.Why not raise the HMVS Cerberus and have them restore it to sailing condition.Keeping workers employed and restoring an Australian Colonial icon..win win.:)
Chris Mooney - 10 years ago
I work in the ship building and repair industry and have been involved in our AMWU union's campaign to 'Design, Build and Maintain our Ships Here'.
Our campaign has two aspects. It is about filling the current void in ship building caused by government indecision and inaction by bringing forward some of the planned projects - not building unnecessary ships as inferred in the article.
The second aspect is to change the way these big projects are awarded in the future through continuous build style projects. This reduces the peaks and troughs that contribute to the cost of the projects, through having to retrain for the skills lost when a project ends as the new project has to ramp up again.
Continuous build projects allow advances in technology to be incorporated when they are ready through the life of the project rather than locking in old technology thay will need to be upgraded not long after the project completes - at extra costs.
Finally, a ship built overseas has all of the cost to Australian taxpayers going into the coffers of overseas economies whereas if it is built here the majority of the cost is returned to our economy.
Back in the 30,s the government kept shipbuilding apprentices working through the depression by building ships such as the steam tug 'Wattle'.We need to keep these valuable employees skills rather than ship them overseas.Why not raise the HMVS Cerberus and have them restore it to sailing condition.Keeping workers employed and restoring an Australian Colonial icon..win win.:)
I work in the ship building and repair industry and have been involved in our AMWU union's campaign to 'Design, Build and Maintain our Ships Here'.
Our campaign has two aspects. It is about filling the current void in ship building caused by government indecision and inaction by bringing forward some of the planned projects - not building unnecessary ships as inferred in the article.
The second aspect is to change the way these big projects are awarded in the future through continuous build style projects. This reduces the peaks and troughs that contribute to the cost of the projects, through having to retrain for the skills lost when a project ends as the new project has to ramp up again.
Continuous build projects allow advances in technology to be incorporated when they are ready through the life of the project rather than locking in old technology thay will need to be upgraded not long after the project completes - at extra costs.
Finally, a ship built overseas has all of the cost to Australian taxpayers going into the coffers of overseas economies whereas if it is built here the majority of the cost is returned to our economy.