A long-term plan to invest almost $160 billion in continuous naval shipbuilding in Australia has been released.
Federal Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Plan outlined the rollout of a $159 billion investment over the next decade to boost Australia’s maritime capabilities, including 55 newly announced vessels.
Minister Marles said the plan also articulated a 30-year pipeline of construction and sustainment projects, largely across South Australia and Western Australia, including conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, an enhanced lethality surface combatant fleet and landing craft for the Australian Army.
He said it represented a commitment to continuous naval shipbuilding and sustainment, to be delivered by an Australian workforce and anchored by sovereign supply chains.
“These decisions will create an intergenerational pipeline of naval construction projects that will support around 8500 jobs in shipbuilding and sustainment by 2030, plus an additional 20,000 jobs over the next 30 years in support of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program.”
Minister Marles said the Plan would be supported by efforts to boost the needed workforce, including funding 500,000 free TAFE and vocational education training places and investing $250 million to attract, train and retain a nuclear-powered submarine workforce.
He said the coordinated growth of the workforce would be overseen by the newly established Maritime Workforce and Skills Council in close collaboration with partners from federal, state and territory governments, industry, trade unions and academia.
“The Government is also progressing detailed design and enabling works to deliver multi-billion-dollar infrastructure upgrades for Australia’s maritime industrial base, including for the new Defence Precinct at Henderson in Western Australia and the Submarine Construction Yard at Osborne in South Australia.”
Access the Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Plan.
