Those in the know avoid Austal, they are so bad
Bad in what way?
Bad in that Austal under-engineered the keels of the
Armidales & then further degraded them with poor (cheaper) materials during construction.
When the boats then had to perform above minimal peacetime operations, doing anti-people-smuggling operations, their keels began to crack. Serco, who had won the maintenance contract for the boats, found them out & put forward to the Government that this work was outside their contract & that repairs should be conducted at additional cost above the maintenance fees agreed to. The Government, not wanting the extra cost, sided with Austal, despite evidence to the contrary (including from independent sources) & made Serco cover the repairs under the maintenance budget, causing Serco to lose $20M/year on the contract.
OK, Serco may, to some extent, have deserved it but Austal certainly did, & does not deserve the support the Australian government is giving it.