SA’s defence sector in the spotlight in Advertiser/Flinders University Fearless Conversations series | Watch a full replay

Universities and industry need to collaborate to fill the defence skills shortages of the future, experts said in the second of our Fearless Conversations series. Watch the replay here.

Students are being forced to choose specialised courses and subjects too early, robbing multibillion-dollar projects of graduates matching their needs, a defence forum has heard.

The Fearless Conversations forum, run by The Advertiser and Flinders University, heard Australia needed a more activist defence industry policy to match graduates to projects, rather than relying on the market.

BAE Systems maritime Australia managing director Craig Lockhart, who is leading the Adelaide-based design and construction of nine frigates for the navy, said industry and academic institutions needed to collaborate, rather than compete, in a national framework.

“Then we can get bigger bang for buck. We can get more students with greater focus that serves the needs and the demand profile of our program over the next 30 years,” Mr Lockhart said.

“At the moment, we’re being robbed of that because there is too much competition and choice. We are diluting the portfolio, which denies us the right people at the right time.”

Defence SA chief executive Richard Price said: “I do worry that we are actually narrowing people too early in our education system at the moment.” He suggested this was throughout the education process, saying: “The number of courses is confusing – it confuses me the number of choices people have.”

A former Saab executive, Mr Price said the most valuable engineers had a broad spectrum of skills and “could turn their minds to lots of different things and weren’t frightened to take up new challenges”.

Nova Systems group chief executive officer Jim McDowell – previously head of Premier Steven Marshall’s department – said Defence needed to exert its market power as the only Australian buyer of defence equipment.

“This is a national security question as well. It’s not just an economic or an industry efficiency, it’s a national security question, because that’s the role of Defence, to provide national security,” he said.

“We in Australia need to get our minds around a much more activist industrial policy, as opposed to the market all sorting it out.”

Flinders University Professor in Innovation Giselle Rampersad said equipping schools and teachers with technology built confidence to give young people opportunities. Schools offering computer-aided design had tended to generate more students coming to Flinders to study engineering, she said.

“So by equipping teachers with CAD electronics, robotics, then they could understand what engineering may be about and actually, at least open that option to students that may not be exposed before,” Professor Rampersad said.

Nova Group Group CEO Jim McDowell. Picture: Mike Burton.

SA in lead to keep submarine work

South Australia is in a strong position to retain control of the full-cycle docking (FCD) of the Collins class submarines and should be in no rush to force a decision from the Federal Government, a leading Defence industry expert says.

The battle between SA and WA for control of the FCD – an extensive upgrade and refit program of the submarine fleet – has raged for several years, with a resolution unlikely to be confirmed until after the next federal election, which suits Nova Group Group CEO Jim McDowell just fine.

“South Australia is the incumbent so we shouldn’t be in a hurry for them to make a decision,” he said.

“The labour, the facilities and the capability are here in SA: the longer the decision takes, the more likely the project is to stay here.”

Mr McDowell, who last year stepped down from his role as chief executive of the Department of Premier and Cabinet to take up the top position at defence contractor Nova Group, acknowledged his call for a lack of urgency was not shared by everyone. “In my view, no news is good news but that doesn’t suit the politicians who like to be seen to be forcing the issue,” he said.

FCD will be just one of the topics on the agenda for this week’s second Flinders University’s Fearless Conversations. The 13-week campaign, in partnership with The Advertiser, is bringing together leading South Australian voices in roundtable discussions about the big issues facing our state. It is hoped the campaign will encourage people to share their thoughts, opinions, and ideas on key growth areas, and embrace a fearless approach in creating solutions that will drive South Australia forward, both now and into the future.

Mr McDowell will join other prominent SA Defence authorities – BAE Systems Maritime Australia managing director Craig Lockhart and Dr Giselle Rampersad, Professor in Innovation at Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering – in Wednesday’s 45-minute event hosted by The Advertiser’s editor at large Paul Starick. The panel will discuss challenges such as future-proofing Australia’s Defence sector, skills shortages and the rise of China.

BAE Systems Maritime Australia managing director Craig Lockhart.

Streamed live every Wednesday from 10.30am, the series encourages the community to join a range of discussions relevant to the future of South Australia. Subjects – all to be dissected by experts – will include the space industry, entrepreneurship, education, health and creative fields.

REPLAY: FEARLESS CONVERSATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF SPORT

All discussions will be streamed live via advertiser.com.au, with follow-up articles highlighting key issues.

If you’ve got a question for our panel, sumbit it ahead of Wednesday’s discussion in the comments box below. You can also join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #FearlessConversations