Written by: Ned K. on 18 October 2026
Workers in Australia have manufactured a vast range of products across many different industries for over 100 years. Since the destruction of the car and car component industries in Australia culminating in the closure of Mitsubishi, GMH, Ford and Toyota manufacturing plants since 2000, the major parliamentary parties at federal and state levels have embraced AUKUS and nuclear-powered submarine manufacturing and servicing in Australia as the saviour of manufacturing industries in Australia.
Prime Ministers Morrison and then Albanese and their Ministries have adopted the Margaret Thatcher approach of TINA (There Is No Alternative) to justify the millions of taxpayer dollars their governments have committed to the nuclear submarines manufacture and servicing in Australia. Supporting the US war machine has been prioritised at the expense of the interests and well-being of the Australian people.
Federal governments have found enthusiastic supporters at the State political level, especially in South Australia where the nuclear submarines are planned to be manufactured.
They ridicule opponents of the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines being built in South Australia as being not only "against the national interest" but also sabotaging the development of a skilled manufacturing workforce in Australia (and SA in particular) that the building of nuclear-powered submarines will deliver.
At the State and Federal levels, the ALP annual conferences pass resolutions to this effect, despite a growing number of ALP sub-branches passing resolutions opposing AUKUS and the whole nuclear submarine project at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.
Former ALP leaders like Paul Keating are marginalised and ignored for speaking out against AUKUS and the nuclear submarine project.
THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE
Some of the ALP pro-AUKUS leaders say that people even within their own ranks have no manufacturing alternative for Australia, that building AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines is the only way for Australia to have a manufacturing base.
What are the facts?
There is a great variety of manufacturing industries in Australia that are not connected or dependent on nuclear powered submarines. Below are just a sample of these industries
Biotechnology and Biopharmaceutical
Industrial and Engineering Manufacturing
Consumer Products and home Automation Systems
Transport Engineering
Metal Fabrication Services
Electrical Equipment
Housing Construction
Rail and Bus Transport
Steel Works
Mining Equipment
Food Processing Manufacture
All these industries provide employment opportunities and develop transferable skills for workers.
According to government and industry web sites, in 2026 there are approximately 930,000 workers employed by manufacturing companies in Australia.
Out of these 930,000 workers, 112,918 are employed in defence-related manufacturing.
In South Australia, the central part of the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, there are 66,716 workers employed by manufacturing employers.
Of these 66,716, 11,000 are employed in defence-related manufacturing.
Of the 112,918 defence -related workers nationally and the 11,000 defence-related workers in SA, all of them could and should be employed on projects that effectively defend Australia as an island continent and country. They have skills that can manufacture land, air and sea-based defences of the country. They also have transferable skills to manufacture for example, Australian-made public transport, hospital equipment, renewable energy systems, more aged care facilities and much more.
In the period 1939 to 1945, large manufacturing plants such as GMH and Ford were converted to produce different products due to the war. This was done very quickly, and it was Australian workers who had the transferable skills to meet the new demanded products.
That historical example shows how false is the claim by political leaders who say "there is no alternative" other than AUKUS and its nuclear-powered submarine project.
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