‘I’m a jobs dealer, not an arms dealer’: Premier defends WA military manufacturing hub

Premier Roger Cook says he is a jobs dealer rather than an arms dealer after announcing the state government’s new plan to set up a defence industry manufacturing hub in WA.

WA could become the third state in Australia to begin manufacturing military missiles after the government announced on Tuesday it was seeking expressions of interest to build a weapons hub.

Premier Roger Cook made the call-out to defence contractors during the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference, being held in Perth this week.

Australia produced its first batch of guided multiple launch rocket systems earlier this year at a new manufacturing facility in Port Wakefield, South Australia.

Prior to the hub being built, Australia had no capacity to build its own missiles. A second hub is being built in Newcastle, New South Wales, and is expected to be operational by mid-2027.

Defence Australia, as part of its $21 billion Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance plan, has committed to building 4000 missiles a year by 2029 to increase sovereign capacity.

Western Australia and the Northern Territory are considered primary locations for storage and rapid deployment of weapons, with WA’s anticipated AUKUS facilities also providing a maintenance hub for reloading and servicing naval strike assets.

Cook said one of the primary reasons for the establishment of the defence industry hub was a focus on providing local jobs.

“I’m a jobs dealer, I’m about establishing jobs,” he said.

“Our government has created over 380,000 jobs since we were elected in 2017.

“We’re going to continue to drive jobs growth in Western Australia.”

Defence Industry Minister Paul Papalia said the hub would not be restricted to just missile production.

“I just want to make it clear, it’s anything in the defence situation,” he said.

“So it might be vehicles, it might be things related to satellites, it might be equipment for support of soldiers or personnel, right down to things like first aid fields.

“It could be things like energetics, which is the propellant for solid fuel rocket motors and things of that type, so the stuff that makes the missiles and rockets fire.

“We make explosives in Western Australia. We have a chemical industry in Western Australia.”

Papalia said the initiative had the potential to unlock a new sector for the state.

“Manufacturing companies from around the world are being invited to come here, establish additional capability to meet markets they already have in the nations of our friends and allies around the world,” he said.

“The world right now is concerning, and every nation, all of our friendly nations around the world are uplifting their defence scheme.

“We have a huge industrial base derived from investment in oil and gas and mining that can be applied to defence.”

People from 12 countries and 250 different companies are expected to attend the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference from Tuesday.

The three-day conference is being held amid tight security at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

An anti-war protest against the conference is scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon, with Greens WA MLC Sophie McNeill helping to organise the action.

“It is outrageous that the Cook Labor government has signed up our beautiful little part of the world to be a key cog in the US military war machine,” she said.

“We will make sure these murderous weapons companies know that West Aussies do not welcome them here.”