MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms SHARKIE (Mayo) (15:23): I rise to speak on the member for Wentworth's matter of public importance, and I acknowledge the need for transparency across all areas of government, and this is particularly important when there are large amounts of taxpayer money being spent. However, I recognise that, in matters of defence and in the interests of diplomacy with our most important international partners, this is not always possible or indeed wise.
The AUKUS partnership will outlast current governments and administrations. History has shown that there are no greater partners or friends of Australia than the United Kingdom and the United States of America. As we've seen, elements of AUKUS will change.
That is the reality. But we must hold the course. We no longer have the luxury of time to change our minds.
The reality is we are the smallest of the three partners, and, while we disagree amongst ourselves, other nations are building capacity and readying themselves for potential conflict. If anything can be above politics in this place, let it be this because nothing is more important than defending our nation. The benefits of AUKUS to my home state of South Australia are immense.
AUKUS cements South Australia as the defence state. Australia's AUKUS submarines will be built in Adelaide, South Australia. And, at its peak, AUKUS will deliver 1,000 highly skilled jobs for South Australians.
It's anticipated that there will be thousands more jobs in adjacent industries over the next two decades. We need advanced manufacturing in South Australia. We've watched it decline over the last 20 years, particularly with the closure of the Holden plant in 2017.
That was a defining moment in my state. Major defence projects are turning that decline around. The latest ABS data show South Australia has the highest concentration of defence employment of any Australian state, with six defence jobs per 1,000 people.
South Australia is home to more than 400 businesses that provide goods and services directly to Defence and to deliver into the supply chains of contractors both in Australia and around the world. South Australia's defence industry contributes more than $2 billion of gross value to the state's economy, and that figure has doubled over the past five years. For my state of South Australia, this is indeed a critical industry.
Significant investments have been made in education, and this is really important to ensure our young people are job ready for the submarines that are coming. A $28 million National Security TAFE Centre of Excellence will be established at TAFE SA Regency Campus to support upskilling of the state's current and future technicians for AUKUS. There'll be five new technical colleges, with three more to be built, more than a thousand additional university places that are defence and STEM related and a new TAFE trades workshop in my electorate in Mount Barker, so that we can build the workforce of tradespeople needed to construct thousands of new homes each year to house our defence workforce.
AUKUS is the cornerstone of South Australia's future economic development. With the benefits of the Defence partnership and associated defence industry, it will be wide ranging, even having an impact in my electorate of Mayo. We have Aerotech at Brukunga.
We have Zenith Custom Creations at Mount Barker. I've had a tour of both of those facilities, and they are extraordinary. We have Connexus, a specialist defence recruitment firm that operates a regional base on the South Coast of my electorate, at Middleton, and it offers opportunities to many ADF veterans who have come home to our region, are looking for employment and have enormous skills that we must tap into, ensuring that they have a great future career beyond Defence.
I'm hopeful that AUKUS will offer even more employment and business opportunities to my constituents in Mayo. It's hard to describe the scale of the opportunity that it offers South Australia. It will change our state for generations to come.
I believe AUKUS is too big to fail, and it's too important for South Australia. And while I absolutely acknowledge the very important commentary made and this matter of public importance by the member for Wentworth, I can't understate how valuable AUKUS is to my state of South Australia and to our nation.