Premier Steven Marshall urges PM to speed up defence security clearances

Premier Steven Marshall wants to build a nuclear defence industry here from scratch – as the next step for submarine workers is revealed.

South Australia is positioning itself to become the country’s capital of a brand new nuclear industry, which Premier Steven Marshall must build from scratch.

In frank assessments made at a major industry conference in Adelaide on Tuesday, Mr Marshall said Australia had massive “skills deficiencies” and no nuclear expertise.

He has urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to expedite security clearances so SA could rapidly employ overseas workers with qualifications in nuclear regulation, engineering, legal frameworks and every other part of the sector to work on a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS alliance.

“It’s fair to say we probably don’t have the skills in Australia, because we haven’t had a nuclear industry like in the UK and other parts of the world,” he told the Submarine Institute of Australia conference on Tuesday.

“There’s no doubt we have skills deficiencies right across the country at the moment.”

Mr Marshall said the state would need to rely heavily on overseas skilled migration once borders opened to bolster the local workforce.

It’s understood Mr Marshall’s main focus of the AUKUS pact will be establishing SA as the nation’s base for nuclear capabilities, creating a new industry from scratch.

Premier Steven Marshall wants the Prime Minister to streamline the country’s security clearance process.

Part of his plan is urgently pushing Mr Morrison to reform the country’s lengthy security clearance process, which grants workers access to classified information.

He said it was the “biggest issue” currently facing the defence industry and that a more streamlined process would be a “massive win”.

“These (clearances) take an extraordinary period of time, and you can understand, you don’t want to be passing our security clearances willy nilly, there’s got to be a rigour” Mr Marshall said.

“(But) we now have this AUKUS arrangement, surely this must provide an opportunity for us to have a streamlined process for security clearances.

“It’s certainly something that I am going to continue to push with the federal government.”

A state government spokesman later told The Advertiser SA would have “huge opportunities” for workers with expertise in nuclear regulation, engineering, legal frameworks and “every element of the sector”.

When announcing AUKUS in September, Mr Morrison promised it wouldn’t lead to a civil nuclear industry.

Mr Marshall addressed questions from industry members about his plan to implement new nuclear safety regulations in preparation for the future submarines.

Declaring it a “very technical question for a Premier”, Mr Marshall was still confident he had enough time to put in place new regulations on advice from the Nuclear-Powered Submarine Task Force.

DEFENCE WORKERS SENT BACK TO UNI

South Australian workers affected by the cancellation of the Attack-class submarines project are likely to be given university training in nuclear power and physics – paid by the federal government.

Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price has addressed major industry leaders and navy officials at a Submarine Institute of Australia conference in Adelaide on Tuesday.

In a virtual speech, Ms Price, pictured, directly addressed concerns about how SA’s workforce could be trained up to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, flagging overseas shipyard placements and government-funded tertiary education as part of her plan.

“We must ensure that critical skills are retained in the shipbuilding sector in Australia and are not lost because of this (AUKUS) decision,” she said.

Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price will flag to the conference government-funded uni for affected submarine workers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

“(And) there will be opportunities for workers to undertake further learning and development, which may include funded tertiary education in specialist areas such as shipbuilding, physics, and nuclear power.”

Labor’s defence spokesman, Brendan O’Connor, is expected to draw a link between the cancellation of the $90bn Attack-class program and the death of Holden.

“If you were a worker who left Holden to go and work on submarines after this government shut down the car industry, you would be feeling a strong sense of deja vu,” he is expected to say in a virtual address late on Tuesday afternoon.

“Not only is it a difficult time for those workers, we cannot afford to lose their knowledge and skills.”

Shadow Minister for Defence, Brendan O’Connor

Mr O’Connor is also expected to raise questions about how quickly an appropriately skilled workforce can be readied to construct nuclear-powered submarines in Australia.

“Our workforce, both onshore and in the submarine force itself, need to increase dramatically, with a large number of nuclear-trained engineers and technicians,” his draft speech notes say.

Ms Price’s prerecorded address will mention the need to maintain the Collins-class submarines “right up to the 2040s”.

Last month, chief of navy Vice-Admiral Michael Noonan hinted at a strong possibility of consecutive life-of-type extensions to keep the boats operational until 2050.

Daniel LeRaye, the navy’s head of the Collins life-of-type extension program, is listed as a speaker at the conference on Tuesday.

He is expected to shed light on how long the fleet will be maintained to prevent a possible capability gap until the nuclear-powered submarines hit the water in 2038-2040.

[e-mail]

Originally published as Premier Steven Marshall urges PM to speed up defence security clearances