Australia to build nuclear-submarine base as PM warns of Ukraine war spillover

The US$7.4 billion project on the country’s east coast will be the first construction of a major base in Australia since the 1990s

It comes as PM Scott Morrison warns that Australia faces the ‘most difficult and dangerous security environment in 80 years’ amid the war in Ukraine

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An Australian Collins-class submarine and a British nuclear-powered attack submarine are seen last year at Australia’s existing submarine base in Perth. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:22am, 7 Mar 2022Updated: 12:42pm, 9 Mar 2022

The Australian government will spend at least A$10 billion (US$7.4 billion) building a new base to house a future fleet of nuclear submarines, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison warns the war in Ukraine will “inevitably stretch” to the Asia-Pacific.

Morrison announced the project, the first construction of a major new base in Australia since the 1990s, in a foreign policy speech in Sydney on Monday. The Defence Department has selected three possible east coast locations for the submarine facility – Newcastle and Port Kembla in the state of New South Wales and the Queensland capital of Brisbane.

In his speech to the Lowy Institute, Morrison warned against rising militarisation and attacks on liberal democracies in the Asia-Pacific region, saying “Australia faces its most difficult and dangerous security environment in 80 years”.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: AP

News of the base comes as Morrison seeks to burnish his national security credentials ahead of an election that must be held by the end of May, with the prime minister’s centre-right Liberal National coalition badly trailing the opposition Labor Party in opinion polls.

Australia is planning to build and begin operating a fleet of nuclear submarines in the coming decades with the assistance of the US and the UK, under the landmark Aukus agreement which was signed in September last year. The new defence capacity could allow Australia greater ability to project force throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

No decision has been conveyed yet on whether Australia will be using a UK or US design for its submarine fleet, or how it will train its navy in the new technology. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday, Defence Minister Peter Dutton said there would be an announcement on the design “within the next couple of months”.