Billions in new funding for AUKUS shipyards in Adelaide

The shipyards that will construct Australia’s fleet of AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines have been handed a $4.6 billion funding boost.

The additional investment will help further develop the new Submarine Construction Yard at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyards.

The announcement, to be made on Friday, comes on the sidelines of the ALP’s 50th National Conference in Adelaide which appears set to avoid a public debate over the AUKUS pact.

Billions of dollars in state and federal funding are going into the shipyards to prepare for the submarine construction project, with the first AUKUS-class submarine to be delivered in the early 2040s.

This funding boost comes on top of $3.9 billion already announced for the commonwealth Australian Naval Infrastructure shipyards earlier this year.

Australian Naval Infrastructure is a commonwealth-owned company.

Under AUKUS, five nuclear-powered submarines will be constructed at Osborne, on top of the three Virginia-class submarines being acquired from the United States.

Construction on Australia’s fleet of Hunter Class frigates is already underway, but the new submarine shipyards are expected to be 10 times the size of the existing precinct.

The development includes the construction of a 420-metre-long fabrication hall, along with outfitting, consolidating and commissioning precincts within the yard.

The government is seeking to highlight the jobs that will be created during construction, with 1,100 people already employed on the site and thousands more expected in South Australia.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the funding was another step on the path towards making the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program a reality.

“This investment is another important step in building the sovereign capability Australia will need to build, operate, maintain and sustain our future submarine fleet,” he said.

“The work underway right now at Osborne demonstrates that AUKUS is on track and happening now, all while creating opportunities for Australian industry and workers for decades to come.”

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said it was an enormous undertaking.

“It is difficult to comprehend the scale of the billions of dollars of investment being delivered at Osborne to enable us to build the most complex machines on the planet,” he said.

Construction underway across the country

This funding announcement brings the total volume invested into the Osborne shipyards under AUKUS to $8.5 billion in taxpayer funds.

But that funding is still dwarfed by other AUKUS projects, including the $12 billion announced for the Henderson shipyards in Western Australia last year.

Henderson will maintain the Virginia Class submarines Australia will operate from the 2030s, along with AUKUS submarines.

This new multi-billion-dollar funding announcement comes as Labor’s national conference takes place in Adelaide.

While AUKUS was publicly debated at Labor’s last national conference three years ago, it appears unlikely to flare up at this year’s conference.

Despite some concerns over the pact within parts of Labor’s rank-and-file membership, and Labor MP Ed Husic calling for the pact to be renegotiated, the conference appears to be set to avoid another public discussion of AUKUS.

That has caused dismay among some of the pact’s most vocal opponents, like former Labor minister Peter Garrett, who is leading a “public inquiry” into AUKUS at present.

“This week’s Labor conference in Adelaide — one of the key locations for AUKUS, as it happens — looks unlikely to accommodate any meaningful debate on the issue,” he said in a piece for Guardian Australia.

“This is a great pity.”