Australia to Build $7.4 Billion Base for Nuclear Submarines
- Initial work on facility expected to be completed by late 2023
- PM contradicts Defence Minister over submarine design deadline
Royal Australian Navy submarine HMAS Rankin in Darwin, Australia.
Source: Getty Images
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The Australian government will spend at least A$10 billion ($7.4 billion) building a new base to house a future fleet of nuclear submarines, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison warns the Ukraine war 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 Defense 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.