Source: Courier-Mail, 14 March 2018.
Queensland will be supercharged by a stunning multi-billion dollar jobs boom lasting 30 years, after the state was last night chosen to build a state-of-the-art fleet of super tanks for the Australian Defence Force.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will this morning announce Rheinmetall Defence Australia has won the $5 billion mega contract to build 211 Boxer CRV tanks at Ipswich, beating a Victorian bid after an eight month campaign by The Courier-Mail and the Coalition’s 26 federal Sunshine State MPs, who dubbed themselves Team Queensland.
The decision, which also puts the state in the box seat for a future $15 billion deal, will help reset the state’s economy and guarantee jobs for three decades, as the military machines are refitted and serviced.
Mr Turnbull said the tanks, which can survive a direct bomb attack and pepper 200 rounds a minute through their cannons, would be made by local workers using Australian steel.
- German company Rheinmetall will build 211 state-of-the-art combat reconnaissance vehicles under a $5.2 billion Defence Force contract
- Rheinmetall will create a Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence at Ipswich to assemble the war machines, hiring about 450 staff
- 1,500 jobs will flow through the state, with small to medium businesses needed to supply good and services to the vehicles
- 150 vehicles will be based in Townsville, Rockhampton and Enoggera and used for overseas combat
- Jobs are guaranteed in QLD for 30 years during which $10 billion will flow through the economy
- 40 companies across Australia will be used to support the project
- Winning Phase 2 makes it more likely QLD will win Phase 3, which is worth $15 billion and involves exporting the vehicles to other nations