Defence Shipbuilding

Mr DIGHTON (Black) (14:22): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on South Australia's role in defence shipbuilding?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:23): I thank the member for Black for his question. Interestingly, it is an important strategy of developing the workforce capability that is required for our naval shipbuilding effort to make sure that people in the southern suburbs of Adelaide feel as though this is a readily accessible exercise. Only this morning I had the great opportunity to be on the ground at ASC for an important announcement and met a southern suburbs resident who was going through the process of receiving their apprenticeship in welding.

Today, the federal government, in conjunction with the South Australian government, announced probably one of the most significant milestones we have seen here in respect of the production of the AUKUS submarines at Osborne, in that we finally, today, turned a sod on the single most important institution that will define the skills production required for the AUKUS pillar 1 effort, and that is with the construction of the Skills and Training Academy.

This is a big deal. This is a $480 million capital project for the Skills and Training Academy alone. Just think about that for a moment: almost half a billion dollars is being spent on just building the academy before we contemplate any of the operational costs associated with it.

This is a huge piece of work that is being led by the Australian Submarine Agency, led by Vice Admiral Mead. It is being done on the parcel of land that was facilitated by the land swap that was initiated by this government that didn't just see us hand over land to the commonwealth but in actual fact get a lot in return, including in the member for Badcoe's electorate down at Keswick a piece of land that we were told over decades we would never get our hands on, as well as exceptionally important land that the state has wanted to get our hands on at Cultana for a very, very long period of time indeed. That land swap was facilitated by this government in a way that was highly advantageous to the state, and on that land that we gave to the commonwealth we are now seeing a $480 million capital program being built in return.

The numbers are eye-watering beyond the cost in the investment. There will be 800 to 1,000 people, predominantly young people, every single year going through this facility to get trained up for the AUKUS program—800 to 1,000. It is a very substantial number, and they will be acquiring the most important, discrete and acute level of skills because they will be skills associated with building the most complex machine ever built in human history—and it will be happening right here in South Australia. It is an exceptionally important effort.

Following that meeting this morning, I had the great pleasure at lunchtime to meet with Vice Admiral Mead at the State Administration Centre to talk about the ongoing works that we have planned at Osborne as that program ramps up. It's a bit of a challenge because of the work that is being undertaken down there now—and it's work that I know the Deputy Premier is more familiar with as the member for Port Adelaide, and she sees it firsthand. But you are now on the ground down at Lefevre Peninsula, starting to see it scaling up: you are starting to see the earthworks, you are starting to see the civil works under construction, trucks moving on a frequent basis because it's starting to gear up.

The Leader of the Opposition, who is chipping away there, might not have had the opportunity to go down to Osborne recently, but I encourage him to go around and take a drive because of the amount of activity: 11,000 trucks of soil are going to be moved in order to be able to facilitate the Skills and Training Academy alone—just that facility. Work is happening, this government is facilitating it and it's incredibly exciting for the future of our state.