Women, migrants ‘key to AUKUS workforce’

A new report warns Australia is unprepared to meet the biggest AUKUS challenge – developing the skilled workforce that will be needed to deliver a sovereign fleet of nuclear submarines.

A Virginia-class attack submarine. Picture: General Dynamics Electric Boat via US Navy

Australia is unprepared to meet the biggest AUKUS challenge – developing the skilled workforce that will be needed to deliver a sovereign fleet of nuclear submarines, a new report warns.

The United States Studies Centre report warns the government faces a narrowing window to identify and prepare the future AUKUS workforce, and says women and skilled migrants will be key to building and sustaining the nation’s nuclear submarine capability.

As the US congress prepares to pass critical legislation to green-light the nuclear partnership, the USSC also warned Australia was yet to secure the widespread public support for the program that will be vital for its success. It called for gender targets to be introduced, and “a supportive culture” fostered to attract and retain female workers to increase the size of the potential AUKUS workforce pool.

While non-citizens would be unable to work on the AUKUS program for security reasons, the USSC report urged an increase in skilled migration to free up Australian workers in “adjacent industries” such as mining to join the nuclear submarine program.

The report team, led by Defence Strategic Review principal author Peter Dean, said preliminary training initiatives were a good start, but warned “the challenge is immense, and Australia’s national community is, as yet, unprepared to meet it”.

“Australia has recently experienced its lowest rate of unemployment in 50 years. There is no major manufacturing ecosystem to draw upon, with an industry dominated by (small and medium-sized enterprises) already facing demand that exceeds capacity,” the report said.

“Australian industries are facing expansive skills shortages – none more striking than among tradespeople, technicians and labourers. Further, AUKUS is yet to secure the widespread support of the Australian national public.

“Without such support, both policy continuity and recruitment efforts are imperilled.”

The government’s “optimal pathway” to obtaining and operating nuclear submarines says a direct workforce of 20,000 will be needed over the next 30 years, plus thousands more in the wider AUKUS supply chain.

In an analysis of the mining industry – an “adjacent” sector that will compete with the submarine program for workers – the report team identified “unique constraints” requiring “strategic thinking about the contributions of women and skilled migrants”.

It said women now made up a record 22 per cent of Queensland’s mining workers, but sexual harassment was rife across the sector, and women were leaving the industry at a significantly higher rate than men.

It said migrant engineers also faced unique challenges to gaining employment here, including obtaining visas and sponsorship, and a lack of local qualifications.

The authors urged the AUKUS enterprise to “consider the dignity of female and racially diverse employees across the project, from the design of safety systems to infrastructure”.

“Ensuring that the AUKUS workforce is diverse is integral not only for social licence reasons, but also for capability and achieving scale,” it said.

“To achieve scale, barriers must be removed to the participation of female and culturally and linguistically diverse workers, to the extent possible.”

While the AUKUS program would have “ uniquely restrictive security requirements”, migrants would make critical contributions to the broader national workforce.

“Australia cannot fill its workforce requirement with its national population alone; migrant workers make essential inputs into Australia’s manufacturing industries upon which corporations depend,” the report said.