In February 2023, they had 8,000 people in a shipyard. Now it’s 16,000, and they’ve got strong plans on expanding both Barrow, to deal with their increased build rate, but also move work to other places. So they’re ramping up, but they’ll get to a position where, if they can get to continuous nuclear submarine building, then the efficiency will be really strong. At the moment, they’ve had some big gaps.
One of the reasons I’m convinced AUKUS will succeed is in the national interest of all three countries. It really adds sustainability to their industry, which is really important.
How else can we help? Well, obviously, we’ve got Australian companies that are entering the supply chain. Pacific Maritime Batteries down at Osborne is supplying batteries to SSN AUKUS, as well as other nuclear submarine programs. Thales in Rydelmere already makes parts for the sonars.
One of the benefits of AUKUS isn’t just us receiving technology and building our base. We’ve got untapped potential in our base that is helping both the U.K. and U.S. programs.
Obviously, there’s been a change of leader even since you were there. Do you expect the path on AUKUS to change at all?
No, it’s survived changes of government in all three countries, and I think it will go strong.
Every leader might have a little individual focus on what they want to do, it’s fair to say. For Boris Johnson, and I don’t mean this as a pejorative, I think he saw this as part of his post-Brexit narrative about economic development in the U.K. I think Prime Minister Starmer and President Biden, when they were combined with Prime Minister Albanese, were much more focused on the strategic benefits of sharing this technology, as well as the industrial uplift.
John Healey is a great friend of Australia, and having him as Chancellor of the Exchequer is a great boon for us.
