AUKUS accreditation failure shows ‘lack of commitment and vigour’, warns Coalition

A lack of properly accredited Australian firms to compete for lucrative AUKUS contracts has been lashed by the Coalition as a proof that Labor lacks ‘commitment and vigour’ to AUKUS.

Los Angeles-class submarine USS Annapolis at Fleet Base West in HMAS Stirling, Western Australia. Picture: ADF

A lack of properly accredited Australian firms to compete for lucrative AUKUS contracts has been lashed by the Coalition as a proof that Labor lacks “commitment and vigour” to AUKUS.

The Australian on Monday revealed only two Australian companies had received the ISO 19443 certification, a standard developed in part by the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure nuclear safety.

This is despite a warning it could take up to 100 accredited companies to service US and UK nuclear submarine rotations that are scheduled to operate in Perth in 2027.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said it was “yet another example of how the Albanese government is failing to lead Defence and the private sector with any sort of commitment and vigour”.

“AUKUS is a nation-building endeavour and Labor is failing in this urgent task,” he said.

“Labor’s lack of urgency in prosecuting AUKUS over the past three years is dangerous to our national interest and security.”

Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said Australia was “paying a price for failing to bring industry into AUKUS much earlier”.

“So far, AUKUS has seen a massive expansion of the Canberra bureaucracy in Defence but ­little else,” he said.

“Sadly, (Defence Minister) Richard Marles hasn’t got the drive or focus to bring more energy to AUKUS implementation. AUKUS is emerging as a three-card trick: all talk, no delivery. The government needs to put industry into the driving seat and minimise bureaucracy. If AUKUS is ever to be delivered, it’s industry which will deliver it. So the effort needs to be to empower industry.”

The Australian Submarine Agency and its AUKUS construction and maintenance partner, ASC, said they were still considering whether their organisations needed to be accredited under the international standard.

Technology services company UBH Group, one of only two Australian firms with the accreditation, warned local companies would have to begin the accreditation process soon to be considered for AUKUS work when US and UK rotations begin in 2027.

UBH chief nuclear officer Mark Schneider has said Australia could “easily get into crisis with (Submarine Rotation Force) West”, and estimates there are between 60 and 100 companies that would need appropriate certifications to maintain the submarines.

An ASA spokesman previously said “nuclear safety and quality is paramount for the nuclear-powered submarine enterprise”.

“The most appropriate quality management system for an organisation must be carefully chosen to suit the nature of the business as a whole, or specific parts of it.

“The ASA is considering which quality management system standards best suit the parts of the enterprise at different stages, drawing on the expertise and experience of nuclear organisations in Australia, the US and the UK.”