Major step forward for South Australia’s shipbuilding workforce
6 March 2025
The state’s naval shipbuilding and submarine construction workforce has received a significant boost, with the Federal Government investing $480 million into the build of a new Skills and Training Academy at Osborne in South Australia.
Construction has now commenced on the Skills and Training Academy (STA) Campus, which will strengthen South Australia’s industrial workforce by providing dedicated training facilities near the Osborne Submarine Construction Yard.
Once completed, the STA Campus will provide the necessary infrastructure to deliver a full suite of training and qualifications required by the state’s shipbuilding and nuclear-powered submarine workforce.
Aimed at stimulating the submarine construction yard, the STA Campus will include trade workshops, state-of-the-art classrooms and a large central submarine mock-up area.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the initiative is a core pillar of the Federal Government’s uplift of Australian infrastructure and industry through AUKUS, which is set to create thousands of highly skilled jobs.
“As the training ground for our AUKUS submarines and shipbuilding workforce, this investment is about ensuring we have the skills for a future made in Australia,” Deputy Prime Minister Marles said.
The STA Campus builds on work already underway between the state and federal governments to grow, train and retain a skilled workforce in South Australia. This includes the South Australian Defence Industry Workforce and Skills Report and Action Plan, with 21 of 22 initiatives now underway.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas welcomed the STA Campus as an opportunity for young South Australians to learn technical hands-on skills which will lead them into high quality careers.
“Developing the skills needed to deliver Adelaide-built nuclear-powered submarines is both the biggest opportunity, and biggest risk of AUKUS,” Premier Malinauskas said.
“We’ve seen at Barrow-in-Furness in the UK just how successfully a Skills and Training Academy can operate, and we’ll need to replicate that effort here.”
The Skills and Training Academy Campus is a core pillar of the Australian Government’s uplift of Australian infrastructure and industry through AUKUS.
