Rockingham braces for AUKUS submarine arrival and population surge

The arrival of the first AUKUS nuclear submarine and associated personnel is 385 days away and the council is wondering how it will cope with the influx of service people, their families and increased demand on already strained infrastructure.

Even before the arrival of the first Submarine Rotational Force personnel, the area near HMAS Stirling is experiencing strong population growth, Rockingham Mayor Lorna Buchan told 102.5 ABC Perth.

"We're growing by 14 people a day, which is over 5,000 people a year coming to Rockingham without any defence personnel arriving," Ms Buchan said.

"We have to think about the numbers involved within the rotational force coming from the US.

"There will be approximately 1,200 serving personnel arriving over the next four years, and approximately 50 per cent of them will have families."

A report commissioned by the City of Rockingham in 2023 showed roads around Cape Peron were already at capacity, and people had already begun using "rat runs" to get through the traffic.

The area lacks any kind of industrial hub, exacerbating the traffic problem because 70 per cent of the population leave the area to work and study.

Call for greater funding

Ms Buchan said it also meant the city was largely reliant on residential rates income, because the defence facilities within the city were not required to pay rates.

With greater population comes greater demand for council services such as swimming pools and sporting facilities, as well as pressure on services like health care and child care, and increased demand for housing.

Both Ms Buchan and Warwick Carter, the director of Perth South West Metropolitan Alliance, representing six local councils in Perth's southern corridor, would like to see the federal government set up a dedicated fund to support communities that host defence facilities.

Mr Carter said the influx of defence personnel and workers in defence industries would in turn stimulate the creation of many more jobs, both boosting the economy, and creating pressures on the community.

"We want to keep the quality of life we have down here," he said.

"Can we make sure baristas can still afford to live here? Can we make sure there's enough childcare centres? Can we make sure there's enough retail? Because that's where the growth pressures will be felt.

"We've put a proposal to the federal government saying we should have a fund.

"We've suggested a pilot project of $50 million, not just for our region, but for any defence community in Australia, so places like Wagga, Townsville, they could apply for it as well to put in infrastructure that helps create more resilient communities."

In addition to AUKUS, Mr Carter said there were a number of other projects coming to the region which would both boost the economy and strain existing infrastructure.

"We're tracking about $70 billion worth of government-backed investment coming into the region over the coming decades.

“To put that in context, the Olympic Games in Brisbane is $7 billion, so it's 10 Olympic Games' worth of activity coming to our region."

Amber-Jade Sanderson, who is both WA minister for manufacturing, skills and TAFE and minister assisting the minister for defence industries, said the state government had already provided support and would provide more in the future.

"There's significant support already going into the community and we're always looking at how we can support more," Ms Sanderson said.

"We're upgrading local schools. We're providing a new mental health emergency centre for Rockingham Hospital. We're starting the work around that redevelopment of Rockingham Hospital."

Local training hopes

The other need local leaders identify as urgent is for more training to be available locally for all the skilled jobs that will be created in defence and associated industries.

Ms Buchan said the Rockingham campus of Murdoch University, which has not hosted students since 2014, should be reopened, as well as a skills centre in Rockingham.

"We need that [campus] pulled out of mothballs. That will need significant investment from the state government to help that happen," she said.

Ms Sanderson said she was looking at a range of ways to train the workforce the state would need in the future.

"We'll be releasing the Workforce Development Plan later this year, which is an industry-based plan for the resources sector, defence, creative skills and industry, manufacturing, clean energy," she said.

"We need every industry to lean in and invest in apprentices, invest in training, support school leavers with school-based traineeships and apprentices and make sure that they're getting opportunities.

"I agree with the mayor that we do need the skills centre here."

Ms Sanderson said despite the challenges, local communities should welcome the investment that AUKUS would bring.

"It's not necessarily because of the AUKUS program or the naval shipbuilding, but to inject that amount of investment in the local economy should be welcomed by the local government and local businesses.

"We're going to give them opportunities that just would not have been presented if this had not been happening."