Building a Bigger, Better SA forum: Nuclear subs will create a more affluent middle class in SA

Nuclear submarines will create a "new, more affluent" middle class in SA, spurring on investment and job creation – just as car manufacturing did, the Building a Bigger, Better SA forum has heard.

Highly skilled and lucrative jobs attracting the “best and brightest” to South Australia will be created by the state being a vital part of the nation’s nuclear submarine future, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will declare today.

In a speech to The Advertiser’s Building a Bigger, Better SA forum, Mr Albanese is expected to describe domestic construction of a nuclear-powered submarine as “the single biggest leap in our defence capability in our history”.

■ Scroll down for updates from the forum, which begins at noon today.

Premier Peter Malinauskas, who will deliver a keynote address, is expected to call on Mr Albanese to ensure work starts as soon as possible at Osborne Naval Shipyard, in Adelaide’s northwest.

Mr Albanese will argue the nuclear submarine construction – as part of the AUKUS security pact – will be a “catalyst that can help spur the South Australian economy to a higher level of complexity”.

“A catalyst that leads to more jobs. Higher skilled, higher paid, more desirable jobs. Jobs that create more jobs. Jobs worth staying home for. Jobs that attract the best and the brightest to South Australia,” Mr Albanese says, in speaking notes provided to The Advertiser.

“When work begins on the construction of our nuclear submarine fleet, South Australia will be home to the creation of a vital part of that future. You will be at the very heart of the defence of our continent.”

Prine Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Peter Malinauskas will address SA’s potential for growth at today’s forum. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

Originally published as Building a Bigger, Better SA forum: Nuclear subs will create a more affluent middle class in SA

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