Australia’s defence minister has reported positive conversations with his US counterparts on AUKUS as he spruiks plans for a major defence facility.
A $12 billion funding pledge aimed at boosting Australia’s naval capabilities is part of the “biggest peacetime increase” in defence spending, the government says.
The money will be funnelled into constructing docks and shipbuilding facilities for the AUKUS submarines in Western Australia.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration reviews the trilateral security deal with Australia, UK and the US and puts pressure on its allies to boost defence spending.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is due to fly to the United States next week for the United Nations General Assembly, where a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump may be on the agenda.
The $12 billion will go towards the delivery of a Defence precinct within the maritime hub on Cockburn Sound in Perth’s south.
The design of the Henderson facility will aim to deliver continuous shipbuilding and reinforce Australia’s AUKUS capacity.
Australia’s defence spending is presently sitting at two per cent of gross domestic product and the US has been pushing the nation to bump it to 3.5 per cent.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government was focused on the “dollar amount” rather than the “range of different measures” for accounting for spending as a percentage of GDP.”When you include what we are spending here, it is the better part, relative to what we inherited when we came to government back in 2022, of an additional $70 billion of defence spending over the decade,” he told ABC Insiders program on Sunday.
“And what that represents is the biggest peacetime increase in our defence spending in Australia’s history.”
The prime minister is set to confirm the mammoth investment along Mr Marles, Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh and WA Premier Roger Cook on Sunday.
Mr Marles refused to pre-empt the review outcome of the AUKUS review, but was confident the security deal was viewed favourably in the US.
“In all the conversations that I’ve had, there has been an enormous sense of positivity about the role that AUKUS can play for the United States.”
The $12 billion will amount to a down payment for Henderson, with independent planning and advice indicating it will consume about $25 billion over the decade.
The initial funding will go to kick-starting early works while more detailed planning and designs are finalised.
It will underpin the construction of ADF surface vessels, starting with Army landing craft and then the local construction phase of Australia’s future general purpose frigates.
Facilities will also be built to support surface combat vessels and docking capabilities for conventionally-armed but nuclear-powered submarines from the early 2030s.
The undertakings will clear the decks for delivery of Australia’s first Virginia-class submarine.
Source: AAP
