AUKUS and Perth: The Defence Investment Reshaping WA's Economy

The AUKUS agreement's nuclear-powered submarine program has positioned Western Australia, and specifically the HMAS Stirling base on Garden Island south of Fremantle, as the centre of Australia's most significant defence investment in generations. The planned development of the Optimal Pathways submarine base at Stirling to support the Virginia-class nuclear submarines that Australia will acquire from the United States, alongside the development of Australian submarine building capability, represents capital investment that will reshape the Western Australian defence economy over the next two decades.

The economic flow-on effects of the AUKUS submarine program for Western Australia are projected to be substantial, extending from the direct employment in submarine operations, maintenance, and support to the supply chain of engineering, manufacturing, and services businesses that a nuclear submarine fleet requires. The workforce requirements of the program have prompted significant investment in training and skills development programs designed to build the technical workforce that Australia's submarine ambitions require.

Henderson, the suburb south of Fremantle where the Australian Marine Complex is located, is positioned to benefit significantly from AUKUS-related activity. The existing naval ship maintenance facilities, submarine maintenance capability, and the industrial estate that serves the marine sector provide the infrastructure foundation that the expanded submarine program will build on rather than replace.

The community around Garden Island and the southern suburbs of Fremantle has been attentive to the planning for AUKUS-related base expansion, with questions about traffic, infrastructure, housing demand for defence workforce, and the security implications of nuclear submarine base proximity generating community engagement with defence planning processes that the scale of the investment demands.

This article was compiled by AI from the sources linked above and screened before publishing. See our editorial standards.