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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-21 Daily Xml
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Question Time

AUKUS Submarines

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Minister for Defence and Space Industries. When will construction commence at Osborne of the first Australian nuclear submarine? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Last week, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said, 'We will look at around the early 2030s of being able to have that design and construction in Adelaide.'

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:10): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question because it is on a subject that is fundamentally important to the interests of our state and its people. The federal government has made it clear on more than one occasion, particularly the Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, that the construction on the new SSN-AUKUS submarine, the first of Osborne, will start at the end of this decade, most likely in 2029. The term that the defence minister has used, I think, in the public realm is that that is when we expect steel to be cut on the first of the SSN-AUKUS submarines.

It is important for South Australians to know, however, that the very first of the SSN-AUKUS submarines will be produced in Barrow in the United Kingdom, which is actually in our interests as a state and as a nation. The fact that the British will produce the first of type of the SSN-AUKUS means that many of the problems, challenges and risks that we know are associated with the first of type will be worn by the British. Then we can learn from all of that and then seek to apply that knowledge in the construction of the first of the SSN-AUKUS submarines here in South Australia.

For a little bit more detail: while construction of that submarine is due to commence at the end of this decade, it will largely take throughout the 2030s for that to be completed. That first of the Adelaide-built SSN-AUKUS submarines needs to be available to the Navy by 2042.

That seems like a really long time. I think it's reasonable for any person to ask themselves why on earth it would take 12 years for a submarine to start construction and then be completed. But that is largely the experience when it comes to nuclear submarines, particularly first of type. I understand that for the first of the Astute class submarines produced in Barrow, which entered into the service of the Royal Navy some years ago, it essentially took a decade as well.

Given that the British have a lot more experience in building nuclear submarines in comparison to us here in Adelaide, that time line of essentially more than a decade to produce it, or approximately a decade to produce it, is actually somewhat ambitious. We have to get to work quickly. Of course, the federal government announced last week they aren't wasting any time down at Osborne, with $2 billion being allocated across the next four years for investment in infrastructure down at Osborne. That will be all about gearing up the land itself to be in a position to start to accommodate the building of the physical facilities that will be required to build the submarines, which will be large.

Having seen firsthand the physical size and enormity of the buildings that are required to build the nuclear submarines, the size of the construction activity down at Osborne could not possibly be overstated. The submarine construction yards at Osborne for the nuclear submarines will be three times larger—three times larger—than what was the case for the Naval French submarines. So, there is a lot to do between now and the end of the decade when we expect the construction of the first submarine to start here in Adelaide as per the member's question.

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