Submarine jobs decision in limbo: 2026 flagged as earliest work could move to WA

SA shipyard workers could be left waiting for years on a decision if submarine maintenance jobs will move to Western Australia.

Shipyard workers could be left in limbo for years waiting for a decision on whether Collins Class submarine maintenance jobs will stay in South Australia or move to Western Australia. Picture: Supplied

Shipyard workers could be left in limbo for years, waiting for a decision on whether submarine maintenance jobs will stay in South Australia or move to Western Australia.

Ten months after the Federal Government was originally due to make a call, it is refusing to say when an announcement will be made on the future location of Collins Class submarine Full Cycle Docking.

And workers could be left in the dark for months, or even years, with government indicating the earliest it would potentially move the work to WA was 2026. That would be for the first “life of type extension”, which is essentially fully rebuilding the submarine, apart from the hull.

Outgoing Finance Minister Mathias Cormann was grilled over the timing by Labor frontbencher Penny Wong, pictured, in a fiery Senate Estimates inquiry on Wednesday.

“Will you make (the decision) in the next three years? Will you make it in the next two years? Will it take five years?” Senator Wong asked.

Penny Wong questions Mathias Cormann during Senate Estimates. Picture: Gary Ramage

Senator Cormann responded it would “take as long as necessary and will be as soon as possible”.

He indicated COVID-19 had delayed the decision, despite Defence Minister Linda Reynolds publicly saying in June the pandemic had not impacted the timing.

“I think you will find that the work of the government, the NSC (National Security Committee), and indeed the work across manufacturing at any level, has been impacted by COVID-19,” Senator Cormann said.

Mathias Cormann reacts Senate Estimates. Picture: Gary Ramage

There are concerns 700 shipyard jobs would be lost to WA if the contract moved.

But Senator Cormann said “thousands of additional jobs” had been created in SA from shipbuilding projects, referring to the Future Submarines and Future Frigates.

Asked if Osborne shipyard workers’ morale was impacted by the lack of certainty, shipbuilder ASC’s chief executive Stuart Whiley said he did get questions about the potential move, and empathised.

Mr Whiley said it was not critical for a decision to be made yet, given the government was eyeing a 2026 time-frame. He said if the decision was taken to move, it would be less of a risk to start with life of type extension, rather than a full-cycle docking first, as the work would be “dramatically different”.

An Australian Collins Class sub. Picture: Peter Wallis

Labor frontbencher Mark Butler said a decision to keep the work in SA should have been made a year ago.

“Mathias Cormann doubling down on Scott Morrison’s statement that certainty for these workers isn’t a priority is just adding insult to injury,” Mr Butler said.

A spokeswoman for Minister Reynolds said the Government “rejects the assertion there has been any deliberate delay in deciding future Full Cycle Docking activities”.

She said any decision regarding Full Cycle Docking would be made in the national interest following “a deliberative Cabinet process, not in response to political posturing by Labor MPs who are only focused on the parochial, not the best capability outcome”.

“Whatever the outcome, it is not a binary where one state wins, and one state loses.”

Originally published as Submarine jobs decision in limbo: 2026 flagged as earliest work could move to WA