Naval Group did not want to be judged on the 60 per cent commitment until it had produced the final vessel.
The Defence Department confirmed the contract details such as targets and penalties would remain secret.
“The government intends to announce when the amendments have been incorporated,” it said in a statement.
“Similar to provisions in the Strategic Partnering Agreement and other major Defence contracts, the specifics of the amendments will remain commercially sensitive.”
Brent Clark, chief executive of the Australian Industry and Defence Network (AIDN) representing home-grown defence contractors, said while he applauded Naval Group for its willingness to agree to the 60 per cent commitment, he expected it to be completed without any further delay.
“AIDN believes that the details of this [capability] agreement need to be made public to ensure transparency as this should not be a commercially sensitive issue,” he said.
Mr Clark said AIDN believed the agreement “will go to the very heart of how Australian industry is to be brought into the supply chain for the submarine”, covering areas such as ramping up local production, the transfer of intellectual property and resolving commercial issues.
“These and many other issues need to be made public in order to give Australian industry and the general public confidence in the program,” he said.
Opposition defence industry spokesman Matt Keogh said measurable, transparent and auditable Australian content requirements were required.
“How can Australians have any confidence the government is getting good value out of its Australian industry content commitments when it won’t be clear what they actually are, and they won’t be met till the end of the contract?” he said.
“The claim of “commercial in confidence” is a complete charade given how the government torpedoed the procurement of these submarines – there are no competitors for this process.
“How on earth can this be commercial in confidence?” Mr Keogh asked.
Submarine local content deal to remain secret - The Australian Financial Review
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