Defence jobs deal with SA government and BAE Systems Australia

A deal has been struck with a British defence giant to develop skills for the thousands of jobs needed for multibillion-dollar Adelaide shipbuilding enterprises.

The British defence giant whose nuclear submarine shipyard left Premier Peter Malinauskas awe-struck has forged a deal to help develop the thousands of skilled jobs needed for major Adelaide shipbuilding enterprises.

BAE Systems Australia will co-design and boost critical skills needs for major defence projects, including its own $45bn Hunter Class frigate program at the Osborne Naval Shipyard.

In a memorandum of understanding inked with the state government on Tuesday morning, BAE will leverage experience from its related UK business, including the Submarines Academy for Skills and Knowledge that Mr Malinauskas toured in March.

The agreement also involves developing projects that boost diversity of students studying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects.

Premier Peter Malinauskas at BAE Systems Submarines Academy for Skills and Knowledge at Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom. Picture: BAE SYSTEMS

The skills academy at BAE’s nuclear submarine shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness, 95km northwest of Manchester, teaches 2000 vocational and degree-based apprentices at any one time – comprising about 10 per cent of the 11,000-strong workforce.

Mr Malinauskas, who was stunned by Barrow’s “overwhelming size and scale”, said BAE Systems Australia would be “an invaluable partner” because of the expertise and experience gained through its UK business.

“South Australia is spearheading the largest, most complex naval shipbuilding and

defence projects in our nation’s history,” he said.

“Preparing the industrial base to support defence capability must begin now. This

requires strong partnerships with industry. Generating the skilled workforce is the most critical aspect of the industrial base.”

BAE Systems Australia managing director maritime Craig Lockhart said his firm wanted to recruit more than 600 roles for the Hunter program by the end of the year.

“The demand for highly-skilled employees across Australia cannot be overstated. Industry, academia, educators and governments have to work together to look for different and novel ways to turn the dial,” he said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas and UK Defence Procurement Minister Alex Chalk at the Barrow-in-Furness nuclear submarine shipyard operated by BAE Systems. Picture: supplied

In an interview with The Advertiser after his lightning visit to the Barrow nuclear submarine yard in March, Mr Malinauskas said he had been struck by the number of apprentices at the skills academy who had multiple family members working on the Dreadnought and Astute submarine construction.

“That, in some respects, speaks to the challenge that we have in South Australia, because we don’t yet have that. We need to develop that culture,” he said.

“We need to develop that permanent sense of pride that families have in having people that work on this endeavour. So we’ve got a long way to go.

“It would be irresponsible of me to not acknowledge, having seen what I’ve seen today, the size of the challenge in front of us, but nothing that we’re not capable of.”