The Osborne yard will include fabrication, outfitting and areas for consolidation, testing, launch and commissioning, with enabling works expected to cost about $2 billion and the Skills and Training Academy more than $500 million. The total floor area is expected to be ten times larger than the existing Osborne South Development project, requiring 66 million man hours, 126,000 tonnes of structural steel equal to 17 Eiffel Towers, and featuring a 420-metre Fabrication Hall, 2.5 times the length of Adelaide Oval.
Construction of supporting infrastructure is under way, including Eurimbla Way linking Pelican Point Road to the shipyard to provide secure access bypassing the railway line, completed by around 170 workers and operational from 9 February 2026. More than 500 South Australians are building the Skills and Training Academy campus and Production Demonstration Facilities, with the academy due to open to its first students in 2028 and designed to support up to 1,000 learners each year.
The governments said the programme will create nearly 10,000 jobs across South Australia at its peak, including at least 4,000 workers to design and build the yard and around 5,500 to support nuclear-powered submarine production, with roles spanning engineering, trades, project management and logistics. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “Together with the Malinauskas Government in SA, we are accelerating AUKUS opportunities to secure Australia’s future defence capability and create lasting prosperity and jobs for the state. Investing in the Submarine Construction Yard at Osborne is critical to delivering Australia’s conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines. Labor will always back continuous naval shipbuilding and advanced manufacturing, which is vital to South Australia’s economy and long-term growth in local industry.”
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said: “The Albanese Government is unwavering in its commitment to delivering Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine capability under AUKUS. The momentum is real and the scale of what is being achieved at Osborne is extraordinary. South Australia is at the centre of one of the most significant defence undertakings in our history. Osborne will be critical to Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program under AUKUS, while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding and sustainment. From construction of the submarine yard to delivery of critical infrastructure and the development of a skilled workforce, progress is accelerating. The transformation underway at Osborne shows Australia is on track to deliver the sovereign capability to build our nuclear-powered submarines for decades to come.”
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said: “AUKUS presents a watershed moment for the South Australian economy, and the scale of the work coming our way is difficult for most people to comprehend. At least $30 billion will be invested at Osborne constructing the shipyard. That investment has already started flowing and is only set to grow. This is just the beginning. That figure only represents the task of building enabling infrastructure. There will be many billions more invested in the incredibly complex task of building nuclear-powered submarines, which will in itself provide for thousands of highly skilled, well-paid jobs for decades. This work, and the accompanying research and development, presents an opportunity to lift skills, wages and economic complexity, providing a better standard of living for all South Australians.”
Source: Prime Minister of Australia.
