Media Release – 16 November 2020
CONFERENCE FEATURING GLOBAL SUBMARINE LEADERS STARTS TONIGHT
Global submarine and defence leaders will address the 10th Biennial Submarine Institute of Australia (SIA) Conference 2020, which is being held tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday in Canberra and live streamed around the world.
The conference commences tonight with an Opening Reception, where delegates will hear from the Minister for Defence Industry, Hon Melissa Price MP. Plenary sessions are taking place tomorrow (Tuesday) and on Wednesday.
“Each year, the SIA conference is the leading Indo-Pacific forum on submarines and despite the challenges that 2020 has presented, this year’s event promises to live up to this billing once again,” said SIA Executive Director David Nicholls.
“The line-up of speakers is one of the strongest at an SIA conference for many years, headlined by the Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC, Minister Price and the Shadow Minister for Defence, Hon Richard Marles MP.
“With implementation of the Australian Government’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update and 2020 Force Structure Plan underway, the speeches by the Chief of Navy (Vice Admiral Michael Noonan AO, RAN), General Manager Submarines, Department of Defence – CASG (Mr Gregory Sammut) and Director General, Submarine Capability, Royal Australian Navy (Commodore Tom Phillips RAN) are set to provide valuable insights.
“The conference is also thought to be the first time that Professor Don Winter will deliver a speech in a public forum in his capacity as Chair of the Australian Government’s Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board.
“The major defence industry partners of the Attack-class submarines, Naval Group Australia (design/build partner) and Lockheed Martin Australia (combat system integrator) will be speaking at the conference as well.”
The theme of this year’s conference is “Submarine build and sustainment programs: the strategic nature of reliable sovereign supply chains”.
Around 100 delegates will be attending the conference in person at the Hotel Realm, Canberra, while others will be watching the plenary sessions live around the world via an online stream.
The event is taking place in line with ACT Government coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
The full list of speakers for the conference be found on the SIA website by clicking here, while the complete program for the conference is also on the SIA website – to view this, please click here.
The annual conference plays an integral part in the SIA’s core objective of promoting informed discussion and research in the fields of submarine operations, engineering, history and sub-sea engineering.
