AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURERS SNUBBED IN DEFENCE PROCUREMENT
20-September-2011
Reports from Afghanistan that Australian Diggers are clothed in foreign made apparel which is falling apart at the seams has exposed the Government’s shambolic process of defence procurement.
An American company was awarded a $7.8m contract for the IP rights to their garment design and also to design and develop a new camouflage print design and colours for the Australian Army Combat Uniform. The same company was also awarded a contract for $2m for the manufacture of 5,000 sets of combat clothing.
Australian textile and clothing manufacturers have advised that army apparel could have been produced in Australia at a significantly lower cost and significantly higher quality.
Media reports suggest that the foreign trousers are of such low quality that some soldiers can no longer wear them. It appears that the problem area is the stretch fabric around the crutch which simply isn’t strong enough to prevent rips which then spread to other parts of the garment.
The problem with sending important military contracts to offshore producers is that the Government can’t readily inspect and enforce standards of quality control as they do in Australia. There is suggestion that the American clothing manufacturer responsible for the production of Digger’s pants simply shifted production to cheap, low quality factories in Mexico.
The Government constantly bleats about local content requirements yet continually fails to show leadership by supporting locally manufactured goods even when they can be produced at a lower cost and higher quality.