Zzzzzzz..................
'Crazy' to train submariners in Canada-----former chief
instructor at the navy's now-dormant Submarine Escape Training
Facility at HMAS Stirling said further:
"We have the people and we
have the facilities, but we just don't seem to have the will to
make it happen."
This is the most sading thing
in life.
u have everything,just short of some wise men to make
some wise decision!!
wat dispute?u leave a facility idle?First i think the facility
is spoil.
Now,this situation is worse than the facility need to be
fixed.
Cos,anything will spoil.It is ok wait somethings to be
fixed.
Now,we know the management needs to be fixed!!
Cameron Stewart | February 03, 2009
FORMER submariner Stuart Weymouth wants to know
why the Royal Australian Navy is flying 100 submariners to do
escape training in Canada when he can train them more cheaply at
home in Perth.
The former chief instructor at the navy's now-dormant Submarine
Escape Training Facility at HMAS Stirling says he could gather a
team of 12 instructors immediately to train the submariners at a
cheaper cost than the $2.3 million being spent to fly them to
Canada.
"If I made a few phone calls, I could get the whole lot lined up
and ready to go," he said.
"We have a world-class training facility here that is just lying
idle -- it's crazy."
The navy is flying the submariners to Canada to conduct the same
pressurised escape training they would normally get at Perth's
SETF, because a bungled Defence Department tender has left the
$25million facility idle.
The bungled tender has left Mr Weymouth and at least a dozen
other instructors without jobs at the SETF, which has not been used
for pressurised escape training since last May, after a dispute between the Defence Materiel
Organisation and the Australian Submarine Corporation over a tender
to manage the facility.
The tender process collapsed after senior Defence officials
repeatedly changed the
specifications of the contract, causing friction with ASC and
eventually prompting Defence to withdraw from the tender.
With the SETF lying idle, the navy has been forced to send its
submariners overseas because pressured escape training is an
essential safety requirement.
As a result, Mr Weymouth said Australia's highly specialised
team of escape instructors were now searching for work.
"Some of the instructors are applying for completely new
careers, like jobs on the railways, and their skills will soon be
lost," Mr Weymouth said.
"This facility in Perth is world-class and has been
purpose-built for the task, and it is much better value for money
to train our submariners in Australia."
Mr Weymouth said the SETF was built specially to train sailors
to escape from Collins-Class submarines, and that the training in
Canadian facilities would not be as effective.
"They're being sent to Canada to train at a facility which is
not up to the task, and which has not been purpose-built for our
submarines. It's the same as hosing someone down with a hose and
saying you've been in the ocean.
"There is no facility elsewhere in the world which replicates
our own submarine systems."
After 19 years in the navy and 15 as an escape instructor, Mr
Weymouth urged Defence not to cut corners on submarine safety.
"In a submarine you don't have to be at war to have a problem.
Submariners are entitled to the same level of safety, and that
means doing the best training the Australian Government can
provide.
"We have the people and we have the facilities, but we just
don't seem to have the will to make it happen."
The navy has defended the Canadian trip as "a temporary measure"
to maintain safety training in the wake of the collapsed tender,
but has given no indication of when the Perth training centre will
be used again.
