Sovereign Submarine Partnership to maximise Australian companies in building AUKUS submarines in Adelaide and internationally

The federal government will set up a “partnership” so SA companies can get in on billions of dollars flowing here – and internationally – to build the complex boats.

A new “partnership” of defence companies will boost opportunities for local suppliers to help build the country’s future nuclear-powered submarine fleet and cash in on lucrative overseas opportunities.

The Advertiser can reveal the federal government will establish a “Sovereign Submarine Partnership” that will build and sustain the new SSN-AUKUS submarines at the Osborne shipyard.

It comes after an announcement that South Australian universities will be bolstered with an additional 800 places over the next four years to train up scientists and engineers, who will help form a workforce capable of building the highly complex boats.

A key tenet of the Sovereign Submarine Partnership will be to “maximise Australian industry’s contribution to AUKUS as part of a trilateral industrial base”.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said that would involve South Australian companies contributing to the supply chains in the US and Britain – not just on the Adelaide-built SSN-AUKUS submarines.

Premier Peter Malinauskas after signing the cooperation agreement with Defence Minister Richard Marles at the Osborne Naval Shipyard. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

“We will maximise Australian industry’s contribution to AUKUS as part of a trilateral industrial base and supply chains – the Sovereign Submarine Partnership will build on these opportunities and ensure we have a sovereign industry and skilled workforce with the capacity to build nuclear-powered submarines for generations to come,” Mr Marles told The Advertiser.

It’s understood BAE Systems Australia is considered an obvious candidate to lead the Sovereign Submarine Partnership, as the British defence giant is already designing the next-generation submarine in the UK.

But federal government-owned shipbuilders ASC has made significant ground developing a submarine workforce that will grow further as part of plans to train hundreds of apprentices each year at the Osborne shipyard.

ASC will also be used to help sustain visiting US Virginia-class and UK Astute-class submarines this decade, and eventually the three Australian-owned Virginia boats in the 2030s.

It could give rise to both BAE and ASC being the two key drivers of the partnership.

Mr Marles said the partners would be chosen within a year.

A BAE Systems Australia spokeswoman said: “As a company with a significant presence in the US, UK and Australia, we stand ready to support the Australian Government as these discussions progress”.

Part of Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve, which will be the site of the new shipyard to build the AUSKUS submarines. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong promised “we are not wasting a day” and said the partnership would be “crucial for South Australian jobs”.

“This process gives industry and other stakeholders certainty, and ensures South Australia is at the centre of this unprecedented opportunity,” she said.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the 12-month selection process would ensure the future submarines offer “value for money”.

“The Sovereign Submarine Partnership is a key that unlocks the door to Australian companies and their workers so they can have a fair crack at the vast opportunities that will come from this historic and multi-decade deal,” Ms Gallagher said

On Wednesday, the federal government announced an additional 800 Commonwealth subsidised university places would be allocated to SA in crucial STEM disciplines including mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering.

Computer science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, psychology and management courses will also be included and the first 200 spots will be open next year.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the extra university places was a “crucial investment in the future workforce of SA and in the AUKUS program”.

“These types of Commonwealth-supported places require some of the most significant investment from the Commonwealth of any degree,” Mr Clare said.

In Commonwealth supported university placements, the federal government pays part of a student’s fees.

The new allocation was made under a ‘cooperation agreement’ signed between the state and federal governments on Wednesday.

As part of the agreement, the historic Keswick Barracks site will be unlocked for redevelopment in a remarkable land-swap deal first revealed by The Advertiser.

Mr Marles confirmed the highly valuable Defence-owned site near the Adelaide Showground would be provided to the state government in exchange for land around the Osborne shipyard.

As part of the deal, the state government will also receive land at Cultana on the Eyre Peninsula to boost plans to establish a hydrogen hub at Port Bonython.

Hours after the deal was signed, state opposition leader David Speirs criticised Mr Malinauskas for travelling to the UK on Wednesday to visit shipyards where the new SSN-AUKUS submarine is being developed.

“These trips have to have a really clear value proposition – it’s very hard to organise an overseas trip which has value in a matter of days, and I suspect this is about Mr Malinauskas saying ‘look at me, look at me’,” Mr Speirs said.

The Premier labelled Mr Speirs’s attack a “cheap shot”.

“What we’re about to see is the most complex enterprise that exists in the United Kingdom that is now going to be coming to South Australia,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“I think we should jettison the schoolyard university-type politics and realise just how serious an opportunity this is for South Australia.”