West Australian shipbuilder Austal remains in with a chance to win contracts to build navy patrol vessels in 2020, Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists.
Speaking at the company's shipyard in Perth's south on Friday, Mr Abbott said he hoped it would be involved in a competitive evaluation process starting in October.
Corvettes would likely be built in South Australia from 2018, but when the state starts producing frigates two years later, other corvettes could be made elsewhere, he said.
"The corvette build is likely to start in Adelaide, the frigate build will certainly start in Adelaide - that doesn't mean that other yards can't have a role," Mr Abbott said.
"Whether it shifts to somewhere else in South Australia, whether it shifts to somewhere else in our country, that is something we will work out.
"But what is clear is that here in Perth, here at Henderson, there's no naval shipbuilding valley of death that there is in South Australia and elsewhere because of the complete and comprehensive failure of the former Labor government to place a single shipbuilding order."
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