TRANSCRIPT
Australia will invest almost $5 billion into the U-K submarine industry as part of the AUKUS [[or-kuss]] pact.
The announcement came as two of Britain's most senior cabinet ministers visited Australia, to cement defence ties and solidify details on the AUKUS submarine deal.
Defence Minister Richard Marles [[marls]] says the three nuclear powered submarines will be vital for Australia.
"The three governments involved here are working at a pace to make this happen. This is going to happen, and we need it to happen from an Australian point of view. Our submarines and having long range capable submarines are the single most important military platform that we can bring to bear."
The money will subsidize an expansion of British production lines for Australia's first nuclear powered submarines, boosting capacity at the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby [[darby]].
It will expand production lines working on Australia's nuclear-powered submarines, promised to be ready by the year 2040.
Mr Marles says that deadline will come around much sooner than people might realise.
"It is a challenging time. Some people actually look at that as being a long way future. But it is a challenging time frame. And we are really mindful that every day between now and that counts. And it's why we are operating at a pace right now."
The nuclear powered submarines will be jointly built by the Australian Submarine Corporation and the U-K firm B-A-E Systems at Adelaide's Osborne shipyard.
Expert Associate at the National Security College and Adjunct Fellow in Naval Studies at the University of New South Wales' Canberra campus, Jennifer Parker, says it was largely anticipated that B-A-E systems would be part of the build.
"That's not a surprise. There really were the only option. You certainly wouldn't go with a different builder to build a UK using. Again, I think the investment in UK industrial base is not a surprise. We've seen the part of the pathway include investment in the US industrial base."
Ms Parker says its unclear exactly how, and where, the vessels will be built.
"It's not actually clearly in terms of phase three, what's occurring except for the fact that UK subs were built in the UK, the Australian subs will be built in Australia. We did know that Australia would not be building nuclear reactors for these subs, they would come as a self contained entity, which makes sense right? Australia doesn't have a civilian nuclear industry. So part of the investment into the submarine industrial base announced today was about expanding capacity of Rolls Royce in the UK, in the Midlands, who make the nuclear reactors that Australia will acquire."
The government has been investing in Osborne Naval Base, in preparation for the submarines.
Mr Marles says it will be at the heart of Australia's naval manufacturing.
"When it's up and running 4-5 thousand people will be involved here at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in building Australia's future nuclear powered submarines."
Australia and the United Kingdom also signed a new defence and security agreement.
U-K Defence Secretary Grant Shapps says it formalises a requirement to consult on issues that impact sovereignty.
"It describes a mechanism by which we consult when either of our countries are under threat and we have those discussions, more formalised that in this moment. We already do cooperate very significantly on defence matters. Signing a formal treaty, I think, signals that the path to further cooperation."
Mr Marles says it will make it easier for Australian and British forces to operate together in each other’s countries.
"Whenever you have interactions in exercises, whenever our personnel are in the UK, whenever their personnel are here, there's a lot of work that needs to be done to authorise an regulate that. What this agreement does is provide an architecture by which that happens on an ongoing basis. You don't have to repeat it each and every time."
