ASC reveals KFC, Bunnings workers applied to build nuclear submarines

The Prime Minister has defended the likely $5.5bn cost to dump the French subs deal, saying it was “exactly right” for Australia.

Federal government-owned shipbuilder ASC has been bombarded with hundreds of people, including workers from fast food restaurant KFC, hoping to get a job on the nuclear-powered submarine program, despite having no actual shipbuilding experience.

ASC chief executive Stuart Whiley revealed 281 people, including workers from KFC and hardware store Bunnings Warehouse, were knocked back from the Sovereign Shipbuilding Talent Pool because they had no relevant experience and were not deemed to be affected by the AUKUS announcement last September.

“They were people who had no defence experience – we had applications from people from Bunnings, KFC and various other broad-ranging applications from people who wanted to join,” Mr Whiley told a Senate Estimates hearing on Tuesday morning.

A total of 577 people applied through the talent pool and 296 formal offers were made to affected workers from French shipbuilders Naval Group and major defence contractor Lockheed Martin.

Mr Whiley said 233 people have accepted offers from ASC, including 155 who have already started.

ASC chief executive Stuart Whiley. Picture Kym Smith

Under questioning from Labor senator Penny Wong, Mr Whiley revealed $290m over three years had been budgeted to run the talent pool, which aims to redeploy and train up sacked Naval Group and Lockheed Martin workers.

Many of the employees have been put to work on maintaining the Collins-class submarine, while others are being trained in various fields including business, marine engineering and 3D fabrication.

It came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended the likely $5.5bn compensation bill for contactors jilted by the federal government’s decision to dump French subs deal.

He said it was “exactly the right decision to make for Australia”.

The abandoned program has already cost Australia at least $2.5bn, including $100m in termination costs as part of the deal with Naval Group and Lockheed Martin.

Asked about the matter on Tuesday, Mr Morrison wouldn’t concede the cost had been “for nothing”.

“That’s not the case. Because there is much that we’ve acquired through that process,” he told reporters at a petrol station in southern Sydney.

“It was exactly the right decision to make for Australia. It took courage to make it. It actually took a lot of foresight and a lot of hard work to put Australia in the position to be able to do it.”

The $90bn French program was dumped last September in favour of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS security pact with the US and Britain.

Senator Wong later grilled head of Australian Naval Infrastructure, Andrew Seaton, in the Senate Estimates hearing over plans to lease 45ha of land just north of the Osborne shipyard from the state government.

Less than a week after Labor swarmed to power in the SA election, The Advertiser revealed the federal government was in negotiations with Renewal SA to lease the land before finalising a full purchase.

“It just seems bizarre – I can’t imagine any South Australian government actually saying to the Commonwealth we’re not going to give you the land for nuclear submarines,” Senator Wong told Mr Seaton.

“It’s a ridiculous proposition.”

Mr Seaton replied: “I can’t imagine it either, but I think it’s a prudent step”.

“We didn’t want to leave anything to chance,” he said.

- with Catie McLeod