The federal government is investing $90 billion in continuous naval shipbuilding, a longterm plan to create economic growth and thousands of jobs for generations to come. This discussion paper provides an overview of the workforce needs of the national naval shipbuilding enterprise and where the workforce is likely to come from.

This paper analyzes the largest and most expensive procurement projects undertaken by either country, Canada’s $73 billion (estimated) National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), launched in 2010, and Australia’s A$90 billion Naval Shipbuilding Plan (NSP), launched in 2017. Each project represents an attempt to implement a rational, multi-decade approach to naval acquisition.

National planning is vitally important for Australia's naval shipbuilding industry to sustain and consolidate its sovereign capability. The release of the naval shipbuilding plan attempted to formalise a long-term plan for the industry. However, further work is required to provide a more comprehensive and holistic long-term plan for the Australian naval shipbuilding industry.

The federal government is close to making a decision on the $35 billion Future Frigate program. This paper sets out the issues the government will be taking into account and assesses each of the contenders against antisubmarine performance, project risk, industrial strategy and cost.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness to date of the Department of Defence's planning for the mobilisation of its continuous shipbuilding programs in Australia.