While the Government this week announced another billion-dollar handout to foreign shipyards, this time in the UK, the mayor of Bathurst is putting his hand up for the town’s share of some of the $368B AUKUS loot. What’s the scam?
The really big scam, of course, is how the Government keeps on doling out cash to shipyards in the US and the UK so they can build the submarines we’ll get (or not) in 20 or 30 years’ time. The latest such announcement was a $4.6B handout to BAE Systems to help them expand their office space (sic) in Rainesway, Derbyshire, where the nuclear reactors for their future subs are being built.
This investment, alongside funding from the UK Ministry of Defence, will enable the Rolls-Royce Derby site to double in size, with a further 1,170 highly-skilled jobs created.
Derby is a town in the English Midlands. So much for AUKUS creating jobs in Australia.
No money for aerial fire figthing, lots for overseas shipyards.
Meanwhile, the eponymous ‘AUKUS Forum‘ continues to enlist rural Australia to the AUKUS cause – err money trough.
The town of Bathurst in the Australian ‘midlands’ is best known for its annual touring car race. Situated west of the Blue Mountains, it’s 203 kilometres from Sydney Harbour, with nary a waterway (or shipyard) in sight. But that doesn’t stop Mayor Jess Jennings from waxing lyrical about the wonderful opportunities of AUKUS, quoting the Prime Minister himself: “AUKUS will be the largest industrial endeavour in Australia’s history and will require a whole of nation effort. AUKUS is already expanding from nuclear with a particular emphasis on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and more.”
How that is relevant to Bathurst is anybody’s guess, but kudos for trying. Where there is money, there is a will – and often a scam – which we understand is the purpose of the AUKUS Forum.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
