AUKUS Agreement

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:28): My question is to the Premier. Will the government now support the establishment of a bipartisan parliamentary joint committee on the AUKUS agreement and, if not, why not? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr PATTERSON: The opposition has called for a parliamentary joint committee to help safeguard this once-in-a-generation opportunity for South Australia; however, the government has continually opposed such a measure to provide vital oversight and transparency on the AUKUS submarine bill.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:29): The government is not averse to proposals of this nature. We will naturally consider it accordingly, principally because where there is a parliamentary inquiry you would expect the government would want to be satisfied that indeed it is going to value-add to the public policy discourse rather than the opposite. I think it's fair to say all of us on occasion have been alive to the chances of inquiries or committees of that nature being used for nefarious political means rather than exclusively public policy benefit.

What I would say is the government stands ready at any moment to hear from the opposition thoughtful policy ideas they may have and we stand ready to consider those on their merits, and we are willing to do that. If we think it's going to be something that is better for the state, we welcome opportunities to adjust policy accordingly. Certainly, we do not see that as being true just for the opposition but also for industry more broadly. In fact, in no small part the Minister for Defence and Space Industries' funding allocation to the Defence Teaming Centre ensures that there will continue to be an ongoing contribution to the public policy effort here in South Australia in this regard.

Yesterday we also put forward our own ideas and I announced that the state government essentially is going to be campaigning and working to see the establishment of a new phase of the development down on Lefevre Peninsula at Osborne. Twelve months ago we really stood firm in our expectations that we see the advancement of the skills and training academy. That is now under construction.

Twelve months later, here we are and we want to do that again. We are asking and certainly working with the commonwealth to see a comprehensive, chronologically ordered master plan for the work that we have done on the submarine construction yard to be released asap. I think there is some work that has been done, but it needs to be consolidated and released so that people can see what is happening in the market.

One of the challenges that we are going to have is we are going to see major building works commence on the Lefevre Peninsula at the same time we are doing the tunnels, at the same time we are doing the hospital and at the same time that we have aspirations further north of the state. The market, appreciating the size and the volume of the work that is coming our way, with as much notice as possible, gives them the capability to most likely be able to respond adequately.

Similarly, that exercise, if we are able to achieve it, will provide certainty and confidence for young people in our state to know exactly what the plan is and when it is going to happen, to be able to make decisions around what they choose to study both at school and beyond. To young people who might be enduring question time, I would simply say choose STEM where you can, particularly young women. Young women are more underrepresented in engineering fields than most other fields at university, and we need, frankly, every last young mind in the state who is attuned to engineering opportunities, and other trade qualifications, to be taking it up.

Advice I reviewed and reflected on yesterday—and it was a good reflection—was of a young hairdresser that we both had the opportunity to meet down at Osborne who had chosen to give up their hairdressing profession to take up, I think, a fitter and turner trade at ASC and how much she was loving the change. So there is big opportunity for absolutely everybody here. We encourage everyone to get on board and if the opposition have other policy ideas, we are open to them.