More than 100 armoured vehicles will be made in Queensland for Germany under a $1 billion defence deal, as Anthony Albanese lauds it as the single largest military export agreement in Australian history.
Albanese appeared on ABC Radio Brisbane today to promote the deal, calling it “good news for Australia”.
This masthead reported last month that the lucrative agreement passed German parliament, that more than 100 Boxer heavy weapon carrier vehicles will be built by Rheinmetall at its manufacturing facility in Redbank, Queensland.
The deal was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a trip to Berlin last year, but doubts emerged about its future when the federal government awarded a lucrative contract to build infantry fighting vehicles to South Korean company Hanwha instead of Germany’s Rheinmetall.
A variant of the Rheinmetall Boxer produced in Ipswich.Credit: Rheinmetall
“It is worth more than 600 jobs directly in the Ipswich region west of Brisbane. And many more than that through the multiplier effect as well. It shows that Australia can compete, and we are good at manufacturing,” Albanese said.
“This is good news for Australia, and part of the creation of more than 1000 jobs every day we’ve been in office.”
The prime minister will on Tuesday visit Rheinmetall’s Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Ipswich to spruik the deal which will support 600 direct jobs in Queensland.
Germany’s parliament has approved a plan to buy the Boxer heavy weapon carrier vehicles.
They will be built in Queensland by the German company’s subsidiary, Rheinmetall Defence Australia.
AAP with Josefine Ganko
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