Launch of the Propel: Australian Submarine Scholarship

It is really exciting to be here today to launch the Propel scholarship program. Actually, what this program, I think, really points to is the size of the industrial project which AUKUS represents – and it is the biggest industrial project in our country's history. 

Obviously, AUKUS is about providing our country with a massive leap in military capability and in that sense; it is the biggest leap in military capability in more than a century. But it really is the biggest industrial project upon which our nation has ever embarked – 20,000 jobs around the country. But it's not just the number of jobs, it is the scale of what we are seeking to do in terms of its complexity and technological advancement. 

This will be the most high‑tech undertaking. The production line at the Osborne Naval Shipyard, which will build our future submarines, will be the highest‑tech production line In the country and one of the highest‑tech production lines in the world. 

And so today, the Propel scholarship program is just one of a number of initiatives that the Government has undertaken to build that highly‑skilled, highly‑trained workforce of the future. 

What this program will provide is 3,000 scholarships over the next three years, providing each of the scholars with a $5,000 scholarship. 

It's a $15.8 million commitment and it's beginning this year, with the first 800 scholars commencing their scholarships this year. Although, as we've met a number of scholars who are behind me today, a number of them are already in their second year, and so are in the process of doing their degrees as we speak. 

This is a scholarship which is focused on STEM studies at tertiary level. And you have behind me, as we've gone around and met the scholars; physicists, chemists, there was a mechatronics– if I'm saying that right. I'm not sure that mechatronics existed when I was doing science so I'm not completely across what mechatronics is, but it sounds like it's very important in the context of what we are seeking to do. But from software engineering, to mathematics, across the full spectrum of STEM – these are the skills that we need. 

I'm really indebted to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, because they will be the body which delivers this program. Those seeking a scholarship will be applying to the Academy, and the Academy is doing the work here. 

We've got scholars from Canberra and from Sydney behind us, but this is applying right across the nation and unsurprisingly, in terms of the first 800 scholars, there's a heavy emphasis on those studying in both South Australia and Western Australia. 

This has also been done in conjunction with the Australian Submarine Agency, as well as the Defence Science and Technology Group in Australia. 

This is a really important initiative. This is building the workforce that we need in order to deliver the AUKUS program, in order to deliver our future submarines. 

Finally, I'm deeply grateful to the scholars themselves for making the decision to pursue this vocation and to pursue these studies, but also to take the step of pursuing this scholarship and I really wish them all the very best in their studies. 

ENDS