Port Kembla identified as ideal NSW location for nuclear submarine base

A secret report commissioned by the previous NSW government identified Port Kembla as the ideal location for an east coast nuclear submarine base.

The Illawarra port, south of Wollongong, was named in the report as the preferred site for what would eventually become home to an Australian fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS deal

The documents were tabled in NSW parliament on Friday and warn the base could make the area a "target for Australian military adversaries".

Port Kembla, Newcastle and Brisbane were shortlisted as possible nuclear base locations in 2022, but both federal and state Labor governments have since said a decision on a final location would be made towards the end of the next decade.

In 2023 the ABC revealed the Illawarra port was Defence's preferred location for an east coast nuclear submarine base.

Greens MLC Abigail Boyd requested the 217-page bundle under privilege.

In it, the former NSW Liberal government also concluded Port Kembla would be the most cost-effective location to build the base.

The cost analysis compared Port Kembla and Newcastle's housing prices, impacts on other industries, and what location was better suited to expand freight capacity.

The papers include a reference to a draft cost analysis report dated in September 2023, the first year of the Minns government.

But Planning Minister and Wollongong MP Paul Scully repeatedly denied work had been undertaken under the Minns government.

"This was all work that was done by the Perrottet government, there is no work that is going on by the current government," he told reporters in Port Kembla on Monday.

'Nuclear target'

President of the South Coast Labour Council Arthur Rorris said the report made it clear that residents would not want to live next to a "nuclear target" and that people would take it at face value unless the government ruled out the location.

"Housing property values will take a hit, your education facilities and schools, your health, your transport, everything will take a hit," he said.

He called for transparency.

"It begs the question, if the state government is saying they're not interested in Port Kembla as an AUKUS base, why don't they just rule it out and say they'll oppose it?

The warnings come as Australia last week pledged $400 million towards the AUKUS pact over the next three years in the federal budget, as the US submarine building falls further behind schedule.

Port Kembla residents and organisations have widely opposed having a base in the area, with more than 40 organisations, including trade unions and church groups, signing a declaration last year demanding the federal government rule out the location.