Australia puts A$88 million into retraining tradespeople for nuclear submarine work

Australia's federal government has set aside A$88 million for two programmes meant to steer tradespeople and young workers into building and maintaining nuclear-powered submarines, as preparations for allied submarine rotations in Western Australia gather pace. Defence Minister Richard Marles unveiled the Tradie2Trainer and early-career schemes this week, the Australian Associated Press reported.

The Australian Financial Review reported that the measures form part of a 2026 Nuclear-Powered Submarine Workforce Strategy. Over the next six years it aims to expand training and job openings for up to 275 apprentices and trainees in submarine and shipbuilding work in Western Australia and South Australia. AAP put the number at almost 300 and said the schemes are designed to draw carpenters, plumbers and electricians into submarine maintenance.

The government presents the workforce drive as part of a national effort that it says will eventually support about 20,000 jobs. Marles described AUKUS as a programme that would shape the country's future for decades and said it was here to stay, according to AAP.

The announcement followed news on Wednesday, 11 November, that VEEM, a Western Australian marine propulsion company, had won its first purchase orders to make specialised parts for US Navy Virginia-class submarines. Australian Defence Magazine reported that the initial order is worth about A$800,000 and comes from the Newport News Shipbuilding yard of Huntington Ingalls Industries. That makes VEEM one of the first Australian firms to move from qualification into production in the American submarine supply chain. The company has supplied components for Australia's Collins-class submarines for 38 years.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the order should open the way for more local suppliers and skilled jobs. Under the Australian Submarine Supplier Qualification Program, 56 Australian companies are going through qualification and 20 have already received supplier qualifications, the magazine reported.

Conroy also pushed back against concerns that the United States cannot build submarines fast enough to meet its commitments. According to AAP, he said both countries were mobilising their industrial workforces, that Washington is building Virginia-class boats at a rate of two a year, and that adding Australian suppliers raises the chances of hitting production targets and of Australia receiving its submarines. Australia expects up to four Virginia-class boats from the United States, and a US decision in June to supply only second-hand submarines drew anger in Australia, the agency said.

At HMAS Stirling, the navy base on Garden Island south of Perth, about 100 Australian personnel are helping to maintain the Virginia-class submarine USS Colorado, AAP reported. Australian Defence Magazine noted that Australia is carrying out increasingly complex submarine maintenance at the base ahead of Submarine Rotational Force-West, under which American and British nuclear-powered submarines will rotate through Western Australia from late 2027.

Communities near the base are preparing as well. On Thursday the Western Australian government released its response to an AUKUS Community Taskforce report and backed all 47 of its recommendations on housing, health and community services, roads and public transport, and education, WAtoday reported. The report cites Australian Submarine Agency advice that about 2,300 incoming personnel and family members will live within roughly 30 kilometres of HMAS Stirling, and that about half of the 1,200 American and British rotational force personnel will be unaccompanied and live on the base.

The taskforce, chaired by Rockingham state MP Magenta Marshall, collected survey responses from 855 people and 50 local organisations. It judged that the defence arrivals are a small share of the housing expected to be built in the region over five years, but warned that existing housing insecurity could worsen, and it urged short-term capacity upgrades at Rockingham General Hospital.

Opposition to the submarine programme persists. AAP noted that former Australian Defence Force chief Chris Barrie argued at the National Press Club last week, alongside former Labor MP Peter Garrett, that the nuclear submarine purchases should be scrapped.