Defence Industry Minister reinforces growing importance of workforce numbers

Australia has long been plagued by skilled labour and trade shortages, with most of the public’s attention placed firmly on the impact on residential, commercial and infrastructure construction.

However, as the government’s $200 billion defence recapitalisation program gathers pace, does Australia have enough skilled labour to deliver and sustain these programs over the long term – particularly when accounting for the growing, competing, non-defence related opportunities emerging around the country?

Robust, innovative and globally competitive industry is critical to any national security equation. Clearly identifying and supporting the strategic industries Australia needs for prolonged national security supports the development of a holistic national security strategy.

The government's record $200 billion investment and recapitalisation of the Australian Defence Force is serving as a major catalyst for the development of a sustainable, long-term Australian defence industry – with the $90 billion shipbuilding plan, the $5.2 billion LAND 400 Phase 2, and $10-15 billion LAND 400 Phase 3 programs, which will see a massive upswing in Australian industry content and development of an advanced manufacturing workforce.

Supporting this program is the Defence Industrial Capability Plan, which identifies the government’s long-term vision to build and develop a robust, resilient and internationally competitive Australian defence industry base that is better able to help meet defence capability requirements.

The Defence Industrial Capability Plan sets out a comprehensive plan for Australia’s defence industry. The government is investing in Australia’s defence industry and ensuring that it is positioned to support delivery of the Integrated Investment Program over the next decade.

The plan acknowledges that as Australia builds its defence capability, we must also grow our defence industrial capability. By 2028, Australia will require a larger, more capable and prepared Australian defence industry that has the resident skills, expertise, technology, intellectual property and infrastructure to:

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• Enable the conduct of ADF operations today;
• Support the acquisition, operation and sustainment of future defence capability; and
• Provide the national support base for Defence to meet current needs and to surge if Australia’s strategic circumstances require it.

Despite the continued positive publicity and repeated claims that Australia is gearing up for a future in the top 10 defence exporting nations, concerns about the capacity of the respective workforces in the states and territories around the country to handle the amount of work cannot be understated. 

The very real manpower challenges facing industry and the economy

With $90 billion worth of naval shipbuilding programs, the Royal Australian Navy and naval shipbuilding industry would appear to be in an enviable position, however, the long lead time on key programs and ramp up in delivery poses challenges for industry. 

Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price has used an interview with Sky News' Annelise Nielsen to communicate the ambitious naval shipbuilding program in particular and the growing demand for Australian shipbuilders, saying, "So we need to improve the skills of the Australian workforce to make sure that we’ve got the jobs and you know, I think a good start, if you just look at shipbuilding alone, we’ve got around 4,000 Australian jobs in shipbuilding with our very, very ambitious project of 57 vessels being built in Australia. We’re going to need 15,000."

However, any conversation about the realistic capacity of various states and territories to meet the growing demand for a skilled workforce has been met with hostility, particularly concerning the relocation of the Collins Class Full Cycle Docking program from Osborne, South Australia to the Henderson Maritime precinct. 

Despite this unprecedented long-term investment in the nation's naval capabilities, growing concern from members of various state and the Commonwealth parliaments concerning job losses, capability gaps and cost surrounding the delivery and time frame of major naval shipbuilding programs and long-term sustainment of the Navy's Collins Class submarines has seen the public discourse bubble over in recent days. 

In one corner is Centre Alliance senator and former submariner Rex Patrick, who has revealed an analysis report commissioned by Defence and conducted by ASC (covering two time frames for full-cycle dockings in Western Australia from 2022 and 2024) with concerns about the relocation of the full-cycle docking maintenance of the Navy's existing Collins Class fleet and its impact on the Adelaide shipyard's workforce ahead of commencement of both the Hunter and Attack Class programs. 

"There's no question that the full-cycle docking should stay in South Australia, it will cost more than a billion dollars and involve significant risk to national security if full-cycle docking is switched across to Western Australia. For South Australia, this is a $400 million contract per annum, that's a huge amount of economic activity for South Australia and we've got 700 workers' jobs at risk," Senator Patrick said. 

To a lesser extent, Senator Patrick is supported by SA Premier Steven Marshall, who supports the continued full-cycle maintenance of the Collins Class vessels in Adelaide, while retaining the workforce capacity and jobs. 

Meanwhile, in the opposite corner stands West Australian Minister for Defence Issues Paul Papalia, who has long advocated for the relocation of the capability to Western Australia, supported by a booming naval shipbuilding capability centralised around Henderson and HMAS Stirling playing host to the majority of the Royal Australian Navy's fleet of Collins Class submarines. 

Minister Papalia said, "As far as I understand, there's some secret report written by some South Australians which they're making all their assumptions upon; it's farcical that Rex Patrick or anyone else in South Australia are making claims on a secret report. In 2024, South Australia will be incapable of meeting the demands for a skilled workforce in the range of 15,000 additional people – they just don't have the capacity."

The microcosm of debate between South Australia and Western Australia is reflective of the broader skilled labour issues facing the nation – as skilled workers are drawn by higher wages to long-term infrastructure programs in NSW and Victoria or to a renewed mining boom driven by rising commodity prices placing increasing strain on available work forces. 

Skilling the workforce and spreading the love 

Minister Price was quick to reaffirm the government's commitments to developing the workforce necessary to support the sustainable development of a globally competitive defence industrial base, confirming the Inaugural Skills Summit in Western Australia as a key example of building the workforce both the naval shipbuilding program and broader defence modernisation program will require. 

"So we need to focus on what is the skills set we need and where are we going to get the people from. And next week, we’ve got the Inaugural Skills Summit in Western Australia, bringing together a large percentage of business industries, universities, TAFEs and also you know, bureaucrats from right around the country so that we can start talking about 'well, what are the solutions?' I think we’ve identified what the problems are, now we need to move to solutions," Minister Price articulated. 

A key focus of this has been the Navy's industry engagement strategy announced at Pacific 2019, which will combine the naval enterprise, industry and academia have an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to nation-building and, in doing so, build a maritime capability that will underpin the long-term security and prosperity of Australia and our region.

"When we get this right, it will lead to increased opportunities for technology creation, innovation, and exploitation in our country. It will lead to an increase in Australian industry capability and capacity and will involve more Australians and more small businesses as we deliver and sustain leading-edge naval capability," Navy's official brief explained. 

Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Noonan, said, "Without industry we don’t go to sea, we don’t fly our aircraft, and ultimately we are unable to defend Australia and our national interests. My vision is for Navy, industry and academia to become better partners that focus on transformational relationships and shared awareness to enable the best possible outcomes for Australia."

One thing all of these initiatives fail to account for is the limited capacity of competing states and a shortfall in the infrastructure required – this often overlooks regional areas and established infrastructure, including tertiary and vocational training hubs, comparatively high areas of youth or broader unemployment and the long-term workforce diversity.

Locations like Williamstown Dockyard in Victoria and the former Forgacs Shipyard in Newcastle for example serve as key locations for spreading the development of Australia's future naval shipbuilding, with the former automotive factories in Geelong serving as additional opportunities for developing the next generation of Australia's defence industrial workforce and, more broadly, the advanced manufacturing workforce of the future. 

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Establishing and implementing a cohesive, innovative and long-term vision for Australia’s sovereign industry capability can also serve as the basis for developing, and in some cases redeveloping, a robust, advanced manufacturing economy taking advantage of Australia’s unrivalled resource wealth – supporting the broader national security and interests in the Indo-Pacific. 

Increasing the quantity and quality of Australia’s skilled labour market, particularly in the more traditional blue collar manufacturing area, is a key component of ensuring that both the government’s Defence Industry Capability Plan and recapitalisation programs are capable of sustaining the nation’s next-generation capabilities throughout the life cycle, without sapping such skills from the broader economy. 

Industry 4.0 and the advanced manufacturing revolution also serve as an integral part of the equation to solve Australia’s workforce participation and should be factored into the conversation in conjunction with enabling greater access to critical tertiary and vocational training and qualifications. 

Let us know your thoughts and ideas supporting the next stages of identifying and developing Australia's national strategic industry capability in the comments section below, or get in touch with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..