The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, has criticised a proposal for Australia to buy nuclear submarines directly from the US, saying it would “not be acceptable” for his state to miss out on promised submarine manufacturing jobs.
Malinauskas told Guardian Australia that while he understood the geopolitical need for the Australian government to expedite the process, Australian workers needed to be involved in any arrangement that included the new subs being manufactured in the US.
“Clearly a South Australian workforce needs to acquire the skills to be able to build nuclear submarines and it makes sense that those skills are acquired working with the overseas partner that is already doing so,” he said.
On Sunday the defence minister, Richard Marles, said the review, being undertaken by former defence minister Stephen Smith and former Australian defence force chief Angus Houston, would consider how best to fill the capability gap that would otherwise see Australia wait until the mid-2040s for new submarines.
In a joint statement released last week to mark one year of the Aukus pact, the leaders of Australia, the UK and the US said that the group had made significant progress towards Australia acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines
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