One of the country's most eminent scientists is urging Australia not to "drag its feet" preparing for the arrival of nuclear submarines, warning "decisive" action is needed to produce enough qualified graduates to oversee the complex fleet.
Australian National University (ANU) vice-chancellor and Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Brian Schmidt has described bringing nuclear boats into service as "one of the biggest training and workforce development challenges Australia has faced".
In a speech to be delivered to the Submarine Institute on Wednesday, Professor Schmidt will note that Australia's AUKUS partners expect this country to "pull its own weight and develop sovereign capability to operate and maintain the fleet".
"This will require the integration of military, industry, government and academia to create an entirely new sector of the economy."
Professor Schmidt will outline to government several immediate steps to help meet the AUKUS workforce challenge, including building a "national nuclear enterprise" by establishing nuclear stewardship as a Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority.
"These priorities are intended to ensure access to essential skills, technology, intellectual property, financial resources and infrastructure in critical areas to the Defence mission."
The ANU's vice-chancellor wants government to also consider establishing an AUKUS career pathways program to "harness high-achieving school-age students and provide long-term development and career progression in critical skills".
The American-born scientist is also urging government to "remove the barriers it has created through funding rules that prevent universities from being more dynamic in meeting national capability priorities".
In a submission to the government's Defence Strategic Review, the ANU recently warned Australia doesn't yet have enough suitable academics to meet AUKUS requirements.
"While Australia has developed a strong reputation for expertise on nuclear science, safety and regulation, the current academic workforce is too small to meet the increasing demands for formal training and education that will be required by AUKUS," the submission notes.
"An analysis of publicly available information shows Australia will need to increase the number of nuclear physicists significantly to meet the teaching and research capacity of comparable-sized OECD nations with nuclear reactors (power, naval and research)."
Last year the ABC revealed Defence was establishing a nuclear scholarship program from 2022, offering scholarships worth approximately $20,000 per student per year.
Nuclear submarines a 'huge undertaking'
On Tuesday Defence Minister Richard Marles acknowledged Australia will need to do extensive preparation, training and research if it is to successfully construct a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines by 2040.
Speaking to the Submarine Institute conference, Mr Marles also flagged a new Australian military doctrine he labelled "impactful projection", declaring the country must be able to hit adversaries at much longer ranges than it currently can.
"Increasingly, we are going to need to think about our Defence Force in terms of being able to provide the country with impactful projection, meaning an ability to hold an adversary at risk much further from our shores across the full spectrum of proportionate response.
"There's a lot of work we need to do, but a long range-capable submarine does impactful projection more than any other platform that we have within our Defence Force right now."
The Defence Minister told the SIA Conference Australia was "buying a large question mark in our adversaries' mind" with nuclear-powered submarines.
This week it was revealed in Senate estimates that the decision to tear up a conventionally-powered submarine deal with France had cost taxpayers over half a billion dollars more than previously disclosed.
