South Australia may be locked out of building the “first few” future submarines, but the Federal Government has suggested there may be local work later on in the build.

The Abbott Government continues to send clouded signals on the multi-billion dollar contract, even as it sends an unambiguous message about the performance of local shipbuilder ASC.

“In terms of our current record it’s a shocker, three times the cost to build an Air Warfare Destroyer here in Australia as to build it in Spain,” said Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane this morning, continuing an onslaught of invective levelled by Coalition frontbenchers against the Government-owned facility since late last week.

The first AWD, HMAS Hobart, was officially launched on Saturday. Premier Jay Weatherill claimed at the time the Federal Government had gone on the offensive to lay the groundwork for sending the submarine contract offshore, most likely to Japan.

SA Senator Nick Xenophon yesterday suggested the Government’s promised 500 new “high end” jobs would not be in manufacturing, with Defence Minister Kevin Andrews telling him in writing they would instead be in “design assurance, combat system integration, and land-based testing of submarine systems”.

Macfarlane seemed to confirm this morning that a local build was not on the Government’s radar, at least for several years.

“It may not build the first few but let’s not rule out – you know, there are a lot of submarines to be built and there’s a lot of work to be done,” he told ABC Radio.

“And in terms of the way things are done in the world today, producing components or putting components together is very much the modern face of manufacturing; you don’t just build everything in the one spot.

“I am still optimistic that Australia will have a substantial program in terms of providing jobs for submarines.”

Acting Premier Jack Snelling lashed out at a “bean-counter element in the Federal Government”, which he accused of leaking against ASC.

“There are bean-counters within the Federal Government who are trying to white-ant our industry, trying to bag it with selective (media) reports…trying to undermine SA’s shipbuilding capability,” he said.

“Again, we’re getting another story from the Federal Government (about) what their intentions are…I think what South Australians really want is a bit of clarity from the Federal Government.”

He acknowledged it had taken “some time to get it right” on the AWD project, but “completely rejected” Macfarlane’s assessment of the project as a “shocker”.

“You only had to be there on Saturday to see what’s been achieved (and) the fact is that we need is a sustained shipbuilding industry here in SA,” he said.

“South Australians really just want a Federal Government that’s going to keep it’s election promises — they promised that we would build 12 submarines here in SA.”