SA can drive Australia’s space, defence and cyber future — if Albo helps

South Australia can push the nation into a defence, space and cyber driven future, the premier says, if the federal government does its part too.

South Australia will supply the nation with an industry-driven defence, space and cyber ecosystem — but the federal government must ensure a long-term pipeline of work, Premier Peter Malinauskas says.

Speaking at The Advertiser’s Building a Bigger, Better SA forum, Mr Malinauskas told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was also at the event, the joint defence skills taskforce must yield tangible results and credible plans that can be readily enacted.

He said co-operation between federal and state governments will be crucial.

“My government will deliver you an advanced top 100 university that’s the biggest educator of domestic students in the country, we just need the Commonwealth to deliver the additional university places in the key fields that the submarine program requires,” he said.

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“My government will build technical colleges in high schools … you just need to provide those kids with a submarine workforce academy that takes their skills to the next level.

“South Australia will provide you a defence, space and cyber ecosystem that’s industry-driven, you just need to provide them with the long-term pipeline of work that allows them to invest with confidence.”

Mr Malinauskas said, if the two governments can work together on the initiatives, the national economy can transition away from “digging materials out of the ground for others to make widgets overseas”, and instead usher in a new era of industrial advancement.

The federal government is weeks away from a decision on which class of nuclear-powered submarine will be built in Adelaide.

PM Anthony Albanese, Governor Frances Adamson and Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

But Mr Malinauskas said he was less focused on that decision, and was instead concentrating on how the state and federal governments will partner to deliver the workforce that will be required.

“The nation cannot afford any more shipbuilding colleges that don’t have students,” he said.

Mr Albanese, who spoke prior to Mr Malinauskas, said the submarine program would put South Australia “at the very heart of the defence of our continent”.

But he said it would also spur private sector investment and job creation, and likened the future role of the sector to that of the local car industry in previous decades.

“(It) was about more than motor vehicles,” he said.

“It provided a spin off a multiplier across a whole range of industries that serves as a catalyst for job creation here in South Australia.”

He said the those working in the sector would be employed in “higher skilled, higher paid, more desirable jobs”.

“Jobs that create more jobs. Jobs worth staying home for,” he said.

“Jobs that attract the best and brightest to South Australia.”

Mr Malinauskas also drew comparisons to the car industry, which he said had also required the local workforce to upskill.

“Just as the car industry required a step change in skills and technology, the submarine program will require the development of even more advanced skills, even more astounding technological development,” he said.

“It will require the creation of whole new supply chains that must be intimately integrated with the most cutting-edge research from the most advanced universities.”

He said every trade working on the nuclear submarine program will become “a lot more complex”.

“The electricals are more complex, the welding is more complex, the gas fitting is more complex, the software engineering is more complex than anyone in this room could possibly comprehend,” he said.

However, he said South Australians should “lift our eyes with ambition”, and relish the fact the submarine program is not a replacement for the car industry.

“Nor is it about creating demand for labour,” he said.

Both leaders also spoke of the shift to renewable power, with Mr Malinauskas declaring the two governments can demonstrate to the rest of the world that “economic betterment can be achieved through ambitious but also pragmatic decarbonisation”.

Mr Albanese highlighted his plan for a nation “that takes advantage of the fact that, to our north, is the fastest-growing region of the world in human history”.

“(That presents) opportunities in areas like becoming a renewable energy superpower, in areas like green hydrogen, where South Australia will be critical, as well as in the defence industry,” he said.

He said he was confident he will be able to work effectively with the state government but also with the private sector, and closed his speech by urging South Australians to support plans for a First Nations Voice to both the state and federal parliaments.