Steve Price: Australia to get new $10 billion submarine base

A new $10bn submarine base will be built on Australia’s east coast to support future nuclear-powered submarines.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will unveil the plans in his speech to the Lowy Institute on Monday, focusing on national security.
“Establishing a second submarine base on our east coast will enhance our strategic deterrent capability,” Mr Morrison is expected to tell the institute.
Three preferred sites have been chosen at Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Kembla following a defence review of 19 locations.
More than $10bn has also been set aside to move from the Collins-class fleet to the future nuclear-powered submarines.
Mr Morrison is expected to reveal how the new base will add capacity, rather than move it from any current or planned capacity for Fleet Base West, where the Collins-class fleet is now based, south of Perth.
“Fleet Base West will remain home to our current and future submarines, given its strategic importance on the Indian Ocean,” he will say in his speech.
Mr Morrison will further say the decision to establish an east coast submarine base has been many years in the making as part of Australia’s transition from Collins.
“However, the government has now determined that, to support our decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, establishing a second submarine base on our east coast will enhance our strategic deterrent capability, with significant advantages in operational, training, personnel and industrial terms,” he says in his speech.
Mr Morrison said an optimal east coast base would provide homeported submarines specialised wharves, maintenance facilities, administrative and logistics support, personnel amenities and suitable accommodation for submarine crews and support staff.
It would also enable the regular visiting of US and UK nuclear-powered submarines.
The creation of a new submarine base will be the first time a major new base has been built since since Robertson Barracks was constructed in the Northern Territory in the 1990s, but this project will be bigger.
Mr Morrison said the government has authorised the defence department to immediately begin negotiating with the NSW and Queensland governments, and relevant local governments and authorities on the “enormous undertaking”.
This initial work is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
The PM said the project will bring significant positive long-term economic impacts, including from construction and having a larger defence force population and their families living nearby.
“There will also be significant benefits for local and national industry in supporting the new base and the more complex and larger nuclear-powered submarine fleet,” he says.
“Again, none of this detracts from what we will be doing at Fleet Base West.”
- by Melissa Iaria, news.com.au

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