Coalition pledge revives scrapped tank project to create 350 Geelong jobs

Mr Morrison is today expected to announce a re-elected Liberal Party would commit to delivering a new ‘self-propelled howitzer artillery system’ for the Australian Army, to be built and maintained in Geelong.

In the last-minute election pitch, Mr Morrison declared his government would breathe new life into the project, cancelled by the Gillard Government in May 2012 for budgetary reasons.

“We will acquire 30 self-propelled howitzers and their supporting systems, and we will build them and maintain them in Geelong, drawing on the large manufacturing skills base in the region,” Mr Morrison said.

“By reviving this project — which was cancelled under Labor — we will deliver the Army the capability it needs.

“By building it in Australia, we will create up to 350 local jobs, as part of growing our defence industry across the nation.”

The self-propelled howitzers, which looks like tanks, are large 155mm guns mounted to motorised tracks or wheels.

Australian Defence Industry Minister Linda Reynolds said a re-elected government would use the results of an almost decade-old tender process as the starting point of an “accelerated approval process”.

“This will ensure that an Australian prime contractor can deliver a world-class platform with work beginning in Geelong before the end of 2022-23,” she said.

Corangamite federal Liberal MP Sarah Henderson said the announcement was good news for the region’s manufacturing industry.

“Manufacturing is so important — not just for local job creation and investment, but for the future economic prosperity of our region,” Ms Henderson said.

The pledge to revive the acquisition of 30 self-propelled howitzers comes seven years after then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard scrapped the project to save hundreds of millions of dollars in the budget in a bid to return the country to surplus.

The project had been launched in 2007 by the Howard Government, with an expensive and drawn-out tender process largely completed by a single bidder — Raytheon Australia.