Henderson shipyard transformation accelerates with $4.8B AUKUS commitment

The Henderson Marine Precinct south of Perth is being transformed at pace, with the $4.8 billion federal government commitment to the AUKUS submarine and surface ship program driving the most significant expansion of Australian naval shipbuilding capability in the nation's history. The Henderson precinct has been designated as the primary construction and sustainment hub for Australia's surface fleet and will house the facilities that support the nuclear-powered submarine program as it ramps toward the delivery of Australia's first SSN-AUKUS vessels in the late 2030s.

The Australian Naval Infrastructure authority has confirmed that major construction works on the submarine sustainment facility, the expanded dry docks, and the workforce training centre are proceeding to schedule, with the first stage of infrastructure expected to be operational in 2027 and the full precinct reaching its design capability by 2032.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said Henderson was now "one of the most significant defence industrial investments anywhere in the Indo-Pacific," noting that the concentration of naval shipbuilding, maintenance, and sustainment capability in a single precinct created the economies of scale and the workforce critical mass that would make Australia's naval industrial base genuinely competitive on a global basis.

The workforce implications for the Perth metropolitan area are substantial, with defence industry analysts projecting that the Henderson precinct will directly employ between 6,000 and 8,000 people at peak activity and support a further 12,000 to 15,000 jobs in the supply chain and services businesses that will grow around the precinct's operations.

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