The Australian Government announced a new Jobs for Subs program for 200 young workers that will be central to making Submarine Rotational Force - West (SRF-W) a success.
The Nuclear-Powered Submarine Graduate, Apprenticeship and Traineeship initiative is a Government-funded recruitment and upskilling program for graduates, apprentices and trainees within ASC Pty Ltd.
This initiative will allow the ASC Pty Ltd to recruit around 200 additional entry-level personnel over the next two years across high priority disciplines and trades essential to the nuclear-powered submarine enterprise, building the workforce we need to sustain and maintain Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines.
These roles, predominantly in Western Australia, span fabrication and machining, engineering and project management, and supply chain and operations qualifications.
As Australia’s sovereign submarine partner for sustainment of our nuclear-powered submarines, ASC Pty Ltd plays a critical role in developing the required skills, workforce, knowledge and capability. This initiative seeks to enhance the ability to attract entry-level personnel to critical skills and career pathways, retain valued personnel at entry-levels and grow the workforce available across the Defence industry.
Already, the Albanese Government is investing up to $8 billion in infrastructure over the next decade to enable SRF-W from 2027 and to support Australia’s own Virginia class conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines from the early 2030s.
Across Australia, the nuclear-powered submarine program is expected to create around 20,000 highly skilled jobs for Australians for decades to come, including supporting around 3,000 jobs in the west alone.
The last two weeks have seen capacity building of Australia’s sovereign sustainment workforce through the support of the Submarine Tendered Maintenance Period (SMTP) currently underway at HMAS Stirling.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was an honour to visit HMAS Stirling and see the finest of Australia’s workforce becoming stronger through the strength of the AUKUS partnership.
“We are announcing a new graduate, apprenticeship and traineeship program to train an additional 200 West Australians to work on Submarine Rotational Force – West program,” Mr Albanese said.
“We want to keep Australia safe. WA will play a key role in building AUKUS. This will help promote peace and deterrence in the region and support local jobs.”
The STMP is an important milestone in the pathway for Australia to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability and is the first time Australian personnel have directly participated in the maintenance of a nuclear-powered submarine in Australia.
During the STMP, Royal Australian Navy personnel have been directly participating in maintenance work on USS Hawaii (SSN 776), a Virginia class nuclear-powered submarine, at HMAS Stirling.
In addition, workers from ASC Pty Ltd are providing essential support services to USS Hawaii, and are observing maintenance activities to continue their learning.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles said this announcement is another important step in growing the workforce to be equipped with the skills and training we need to acquire Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines.
“We welcome the crews of USS Hawaii and USS Emory S. Land to Western Australia, for this milestone. We welcome our US friends to our shores, and welcome home the Australians that have been embedded with them,” Mr Marles said.
“We are seeing during this visit the first Australian personnel participating in the maintenance of a US nuclear-powered submarine at HMAS Stirling, the home of Australian submarines.”
During this STMP, no active radiological work is being conducted and no low level radiological material will leave the US ships.
Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy said Australian industry is integral not only to Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program, but also to supporting the future building, sustainment and maintenance of the submarines of our AUKUS partners.
“This is a further boost to the development of ASC’s sustainment workforce and follows the first cohort of workers departing for training at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in July,” said Mr Conroy.
“We are seeing real progress being made to develop the workforce of thousands of highly-skilled scientists, engineers, project managers, operators, technicians, welders, construction workers, electricians, metal fitters and builders that will be needed to support this nation-building endeavour.”
This announcement builds on the more than 4,000 additional Commonwealth supported university places the Government announced, and the work being done with the states and territories to grow the skilled workforces needed.