Australia’s Treasurer and Defence Industries Minister, Stephen Mullighan, has met staff and toured BAE Systems’ submarine manufacturing shipyard in Barrow.
In March it was announced that BAE Systems had been chosen by the Australian government to build the country’s new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines as part of the AUKUS trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and United States.
Writing on Linked In, Mr Mullighan said: “South Australia is spearheading the largest, most complex naval shipbuilding and defence projects in our nation’s history.
“Preparing the industrial base to support defence capability begins now. This requires strong partnerships with industry.
“The BAE Systems’ Barrow shipyard in the UK is currently delivering the Astute and Dreadnought submarine projects for the Royal Navy.
“The Astute class submarines are the largest and most advanced attack submarines ever built for the Royal Navy.
“The UK and Australia will build the new SSN-AUKUS submarines at the Barrow-in-Furness shipyard and at Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide, respectively.
“In anticipation of this the Malinauskas Government has signed an MoU with BAE Systems establishing a commitment to co-design the implementation of workforce and skills projects that aim to increase diversity of the STEM pipeline and address critical skills needed for current and future defence projects.
“I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to visit the Barrow-in-Furness shipyard in the UK to further understand the magnitude of the task ahead of us.”
