Newcastle Airport and business lobby groups back subs base bid and call for community debate on nuclear presence in the Hunter

The statement of support for the base bid from the airport, supported by Business Hunter and Hunter Defence, comes as Infrastructure Australia releases a new report on the infrastructure strengths and weaknesses of regional Australia, which lists defence as one of the Hunter's growth industries.

Newcastle Airport is about to be transformed by $180 million in Defence Department works on the Williamtown runway shared with the RAAF, and is seeking funding for a $55-million upgrade of the civilian terminal buildings to allow for international passenger services.

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Airport chief executive Dr Peter Cock told the Newcastle Herald that establishing the base in the Port of Newcastle would speed up the diversification of the regional economy and play to the region's industrial and defence industry strengths.

"Newcastle Airport has never shied away from our aspirations for the region," Dr Cock said.

"We think this is a great example of where the airport can be a catalyst for projects that will drive diversified investment and job creation for our region in both the medium and longer term.

"The region already boasts a highly skilled labour market, with strengths in defence, mining technologies and advanced manufacturing.

"A fully capable international airport, 30 minutes from the city should be seen as a key attribute during any government assessment process. The federal government is proposing a huge investment of up to $10 billion.

"While many of the initial jobs attached to the construction and establishment of this base would likely be local, ultimately there will be a significant international presence attached to the fleet.

"An airport with connectivity to major hubs across the globe will be a must."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced last week that Newcastle, Port Kembla and Brisbane were the three ports being considered for a home port for the east coast half of the proposed AUKUS fleet of nuclear submarines.

The nuclear aspect has generated concerns in the three regions, and the organisations backing a Hunter base agree with the need for a community debate.

Hunter Defence chief Tim Owen said yesterday that the subs base would be a huge undertaking, providing up to 1000 jobs of the skilled sort needed if the Hunter is to successfully move away from coal as an economic generator.

As the Herald reported last week, submarine base planning documents from the past decade have Sydney Harbour and Jervis Bay as the Navy's preferred locations, ahead of Newcastle, Brisbane and Port Kembla in that order, although Defence said last week that more land had become available at Port Kembla, improving its suitability.

Mr Owen said he didn't know why Sydney and Jervis Bay were not on the PM's list but said Newcastle had a lot to gain.

"I think we are in with a very good chance, we are right up there in close consideration," the Hunter Defence lobby group chief said.

He said most of the jobs would be local but people would be flying in and out from the US and the UK, making international flight access an advantage.

Newcastle Airport was saying similar things yesterday, as it pointed towards its discussions with the state and federal governments over the funding for its terminal upgrade.

"We think this is a great example of where the airport can be a catalyst for projects that will drive diversified investment and job creation for our region in both the medium and longer term," Dr Cock said.

Business Hunter chief executive Bob Hawes it was time to discuss both the opportunities and the concerns about the nuclear technology in the submarines.

Mr Hawes said it was a massive Defence project with "huge potential for jobs and business", lasting for many years.

"The region is ready to strengthen and diversify its economic, skills and industrial growth agenda and we want business to be at the table to support and inform on how industrial and infrastructure connectivity - delivered through a new defence industry and the business opportunities it brings," Mr Hawes said.

"Hunter Defence was set up, by Business Hunter and HunterNet originally, to attract exactly this sort of interest and business growth.

"This would be far and away the biggest investment by Defence in our region - well beyond the Joint Strike Fighters and the Williamtown upgrade, and would bring benefits over a long period."

On the community view towards defence installations in general and nuclear in particular, Mr Hawes said: . "Conversations to have now are with the business and local communities to discuss opportunities, and to make space for concerns around submarine technology and international security to be addressed in a bipartisan, honest fashion with a combined focus on long term business and economic growth."

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's defence director, Michael Shoebridge, wrote last week that Mr Morrison's announcement paved the way for consultations with the stakeholders at each port, triggering "eye-opening" briefings that will "will start to show the Australian public the magnitude, complexity and scale of this enormous tri-nation endeavour".

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"The US Navy's drydock in Hawaii shows what a new base like the one Mr Morrison announced looks like," Mr Shoebridge said.

"Huge, expensive and full of technologies, systems and skilled people that must combine to keep nuclear submarines operationally ready and technologically capable.

"The new base is not a few wharves, sheds and cranes-unless, in an own goal, Defence builds the base to not do deep maintenance and sustainment.

It should be more like the second Sydney airport and the rapidly growing industrial and research groupings around it. Mr Morrison mentioned having already put aside $10 billion for submarine facilities. This new base and related facilities around it will eat most of that."

Mr Owen endorsed this view, say the subs would require "very significant industrial and technological capabilities" as complex, if not more so, than anything for the Joint Strike Fighters at Williamtown RAAF.

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