Victoria’s new premier has called for the state to secure a larger share of the jobs and investment generated by AUKUS, placing Australian state rivalry at the centre of the landmark defence partnership with Britain and the United States.
Ben Carroll said Victoria should pursue opportunities across the two pillars of AUKUS, according to a report by The Australian, arguing that the state’s manufacturing businesses, researchers and technology sector can make a greater contribution to the programme.
The intervention does not represent the award of any new contracts. It is a political and industrial pitch from a premier who took office in July and is seeking a bigger role for Victoria in a programme whose most visible Australian construction work is concentrated in South Australia.
Carroll seeks bigger AUKUS role for Victoria
AUKUS joins Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in a long-term security and technology partnership. Its first pillar is intended to equip Australia with conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, while its second covers collaboration on advanced military capabilities.
Carroll reportedly believes Victoria can contribute to both areas. The state has an established advanced-manufacturing sector, major universities and hundreds of businesses which could seek entry into Australian, British and American defence supply chains.
His argument is that AUKUS should strengthen industrial capability across Australia rather than allow the economic rewards to be confined to the locations where submarines will be assembled and based.
That is an ambitious claim on future work, not a proposal to move Australia’s submarine construction yard. Official plans remain clear that Australian-built SSN-AUKUS submarines will be assembled at Osborne in Adelaide.
Why South Australia has the early advantage
South Australia occupies the central position in the Australian construction programme. The Australian Submarine Agency says up to 4,000 people will be employed at the peak of work to design and build the new Osborne submarine yard, with a further 4,000 to 5,500 direct jobs expected when submarine construction reaches its peak in the coming decades.
Australia has selected the state-owned ASC and Britain’s BAE Systems as the partners responsible for building its SSN-AUKUS boats. Construction of the first Australian submarine is planned to begin in Adelaide by the end of the 2020s, with delivery expected in the early 2040s.
Western Australia also has a defined role through HMAS Stirling, where American and British submarines are due to begin a rotational presence from 2027. Infrastructure, maintenance and sustainment work there is expected to support thousands of jobs.
Victoria therefore begins outside the two principal submarine locations. Its opportunity lies largely in qualifying local companies to supply components, engineering, digital systems and specialist technology across the wider AUKUS industrial base.
British jobs and technology are tied to the same programme
The competition matters to Britain because SSN-AUKUS is a shared submarine design rather than a purely Australian procurement project.
The United Kingdom plans to start building its first boat in Barrow-in-Furness as early as the late 2020s and deliver it to the Royal Navy in the late 2030s. Australia will subsequently construct the same class in Adelaide, incorporating technology from all three AUKUS partners.
BAE Systems is central to construction in both countries, while Rolls-Royce is expanding its submarine nuclear-reactor facilities in Derby. The partnership is intended to create connected supply chains in which suitably qualified Australian companies can compete for work supporting British production and sustainment, and British expertise can feed into the Australian build.
The Australian Submarine Agency estimates that the wider nuclear-powered submarine pathway will create around 20,000 direct Australian jobs over 30 years. It says about $30 billion will be invested in Australia’s industrial base over that period.
AUKUS reaffirmed by Burnham and Albanese
The political commitment to the partnership has continued following the change of prime minister in Britain.
In a telephone call on 23 July, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that his Government’s commitment to AUKUS was unwavering. Downing Street said both leaders underlined the partnership’s importance to international security and deterrence.
Defence ministers from the three countries had already said in May that the submarine pathway remained on track and that the arrangements required for the 2027 rotational presence in Western Australia had been finalised.
For Carroll, that continuing political support makes the distribution of work increasingly urgent. Decisions taken while production lines, skills programmes and supplier lists are being developed could determine which Australian regions benefit for decades.
More than a dispute between Melbourne and Adelaide
Carroll’s intervention will inevitably be read as a challenge to South Australia, whose government has promoted Adelaide as the home of Australian nuclear-powered submarine construction.
However, the AUKUS workforce requirement extends beyond shipyard employment. Nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber capabilities, quantum technology, undersea systems and advanced manufacturing all create possible openings for companies and universities away from Osborne.
The immediate test is whether Victoria can turn its industrial credentials into qualified suppliers and firm contracts. Until then, the premier’s comments are best understood as a declaration of intent: Victoria does not want to watch from the sidelines while South Australia and Western Australia secure the most visible economic benefits of AUKUS.
For Britain, the Australian contest also illustrates the scale of the industrial relationship being created. A programme often discussed in terms of submarines and Indo-Pacific security is becoming a competition for factories, skills, research and long-term employment across both countries.
Sources
- The Australian: Ben Carroll calls for a bigger Victorian share of AUKUS
- Australian Submarine Agency: construction in South Australia
- Australian Submarine Agency: Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines
- Australian Submarine Agency: employment and investment
- Downing Street: Burnham-Albanese call
- AUKUS defence ministerial joint statement