Senior Labor figures say a decision on where to put a future submarine base on Australia's east coast is unlikely to be made until after the next federal election, insisting locking in a location is not an immediate government priority.
Ahead of the formal unveiling of the AUKUS submarine plan in San Diego in March, the ABC revealed Port Kembla in New South Wales has firmed as the Defence Department's preferred option following months of study examining three shortlisted sites, but the government says an announcement "won't be rushed".
Last year former prime minister Scott Morrison announced Port Kembla as one of three potential options for a new naval facility to house Australia's future nuclear-powered submarines, along with Brisbane and the NSW city of Newcastle.
Revelations that the busy commercial harbour south of Wollongong was the military's favoured location has been met with mixed reactions from unions and businesses in the Illawarra community.
Speaking ahead of an Illawarra Shoalhaven Defence Industry conference on Tuesday, Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite has told the ABC there's "going to be a fair bit of time before we make a decision on this".
"No future east coast naval base has been identified yet, there's a hell of a lot of due diligence and work that's got to be undertaken – we're not going to rush it."
Asked by ABC Illawarra if a decision could be expected before voters are next due to head to the ballot box, the assistant minister indicated an announcement that soon would be unlikely.
"I think it will be most likely after the election, it'll be sometime into the future because we've still got a long way to go on this, there's no decision that's been made yet and the due diligence has to be done."
Under the AUKUS plan, the United States is intending to sell three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia from as soon as the early 2030s, but other American Virginia-class boats will be stationed in Western Australia from as early as 2027.
Mr Thistlethwaite denies the government is unnecessarily delaying a decision on the future east coast site because of potential community concerns, insisting the immediate focus was to upgrade Australia's existing Collins-class submarine base near Perth.
"The priority is upgrading the HMAS Stirling base in Western Australia which will take the submarine rotational force, and that will begin receiving some of those Virginia and Astute-class submarines later in this decade."
"So that's got to be the priority and then eventually we'll get onto the decision about where the east coast base will be later on," the assistant minister said.
Mr Thistlewaite also claimed the new east coast submarine base was "not needed" until the 2040s, the same time frame for when the Royal Australian Navy is expected to first take delivery of its initial locally made AUKUS-class boats.
"We're not going to rush this; we've got time, we're going to make sure that we take that time to make sure we get the decision right – it's still a fair way off because we simply don't need that capability until the 2040s."
However, industry figures tell the ABC the government's apparent lack of urgency contrasts with what the defence department is briefing local companies; that design work needs to start as soon as possible because a new nuclear submarine base will take over 10 years to get up and running.
On Monday Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, who represents the Illawarra electorate of Whitlam, also insisted a decision was still a very long way off.
"These are decisions that aren't going to be made for a long, long time yet to come," Mr Jones told reporters standing alongside fellow local Federal Labor MP Alison Byrnes.
"Our focus in the immediate and medium term is ensuring we do everything from a government point of view to ensure that we have that renewables future here in the Illawarra and Port Kembla continues to be a core manufacturing zone".
