BRENDAN NICHOLSON
AUSTRALIA'S defence industry has reacted with dismay to huge cuts in government spending, which will hit companies across Australia.
The workforce has lost about 3000 skilled employees over the past three years and now many more are likely to go.
It now numbers about 25,000 spread across hundreds of large and small companies. They manufacture everything from rifle bullets to parts for the revolutionary Joint Strike Fighter.
The Gillard government announced on Tuesday that in the coming year the amount to be spent on defence equipment would drop from the 2011-12 figure of $11.5 million to $9.6m.
"To get that level of savings you've got to turn the screws everywhere," an industry official said.
"The big danger is that as the defence industry loses vital skills it will be very difficult to win them back."
Opposition defence spokesman David Johnston said the budget cuts showed the defence industry was fast becoming a non-viable enterprise.
Read the full story at The Australian