Western Australia has been declared the country’s “geostrategic ground zero” as the Defence Minister talks up the growing military importance of the state ahead of the AUKUS deployment of American and British nuclear submarines next year.
Speaking during a visit to Perth for the Land Forces conference, Richard Marles declined to say when construction would begin on WA’s massive new Henderson shipyard but expressed confidence it would be ready on time for large naval projects.
Mr Marles, who is currently Acting Prime Minister, also predicted that the state’s rapidly growing defence industry would soon represent “the biggest economic diversification of the Western Australian economy in decades”.
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“If you take the map of Australia and you rotate it just 30 degrees clockwise, suddenly Australia’s strategic reality comes into sharp focus,” he told the West Australian’s Leadership Matters’ Defence Horizon breakfast on Wednesday.
“From here, we look upon the majority of those trade routes, from here it becomes completely clear that Perth is literally the foreground of the Indopacific, Australia’s geostrategic ground zero.”
This year the Albanese government finalised the proposed boundaries for the new Henderson Defence Precinct which will be used for shipbuilding projects such as future frigates, Army landing craft as well as maintenance for submarines and warships.
“It will be the home of our submarine maintenance and sustainment for our nuclear-powered submarines and those of our AUKUS partners. It will also be the place where we build our new general-purpose frigates, the Mogami class as part of what will become for the first time continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia.”
Under a deal announced last year, Japan will build three Mogami-class frigates for the Australian Navy and then transfer the shipbuilding project to Australia for the final eight vessels.
Pressed on whether he could “guarantee” whether eight Japanese designed Mogami-class frigates would eventually be build in Australia next decade, Mr Marles would only say that the plan was “very much our objective”.
“Meeting that 2031 deadline is about seeing the fourth built here, and we and we had from the very moment we announced the service flavour review, it was about establishing continuous naval shipbuilding here in WA for the first time.”
Before Mr Marles gave his glowing assessment of Western Australia’s growing military importance, the sentiment was also backed by the state’s Premier Roger Cook who predicted that defence would become his state’s “next great economic frontier”.
“Our resources sector has made WA a global leader in automation, remote operations, and cutting-edge technology. That expertise translates perfectly to the defence industry, and if resources defined our last half century, our next half century will be defined by defence,” Premier Cook said.
Marles welcomes Donald Trump $6 billion shipyard announcement
The defence minister also welcomed US President Donald Trump plans to open a new $6.6 billion shipbuilding factory in Baltimore, which will be partly funded by the US government but owned by private company Anduril Industries.
“I think the news overnight is good news, and you know I’ve repeatedly said that actually I think when you look at what is occurring in terms of the US industrial base, we are seeing an uplift in the rate of construction,” Mr Marles said.
“The schedule is on cue, I guess, to achieving what we need to see it achieved by the early 2030 s in order to create the space for us to be able to purchase the first of the Virginia class (submarines).”
Richard Marles on stage with Andrew Greene a the Defence Horizon Breakfast. Credit: John Koh/The West Australian
Australia “watching with interest” private US bid to buy Austal
The Defence Minister has suggested the Albanese Government is unlikely to raise concerns over a proposed $1.7 billion purchase of Austal’s US shipyard by South Korean conglomerate Hanwha.
The Government’s strategic shipbuilder in WA is being pressured by the Pentagon to quit the yard in Mobile, Alabama in favour of the bigger and better-resourced Hanwha, which wants to carve out the flagship facility from Henderson-based Austal’s other operations.
When questioned over the Pentagon tactics during a breakfast hosted by The West Australian at Crown Perth on Wednesday but said the Government was “watching with interest”.
Deputy PM dodges questions on future leadership ambitions
At the end of his appearance at the Defence Horizons event, Richard Marles again continued to leave the door open to a possible future tilt at the Labor Party’s leadership but insisted Anthony Albanese should remain Prime Minister “as long as he can”.
“I feel so grateful, and I genuinely mean this. It’s going to sound very twee, but it’s genuinely how I feel to be Anthony (Albanese’s) deputy. I think at this point in my life, to have the partnership that I have with him, I thank my lucky stars every day,” he told a large audience of defence industry representatives in Perth.
“We are from the Labor ranks, you know, indebted to Anthony. He comes with an incredible experience that the unity and purpose of our government, which is as unified as any point in time since I’ve been in Parliament.
