The Illawarra s bid to bring navy base to Port Kembla

The Illawarra’s bid to bring navy base to Port KemblaLast week the Property Council of Australia and more than 20 of the Illawarra’s key representatives met to form a strategy to promote Port Kembla as a future base for the Australian Navy. The meeting was arranged by Illawarra-based Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and follows on from a submission she made in November 2014 to a defence force white paper on Australia’s future defence capabilities. As a naval base and support facility, Fleet Base East at Sydney’s Garden Island is under continued and growing pressure to move from the Sydney area and Sen Fierravanti-Wells and the Illawarra’s key stakeholders want to see Port Kembla become the home for all or part of the fleet.Traditionally overlooked as an option for a Garden Island relocation, Port Kembla offers an excellent opportunity for the Royal Australian Navy to establish a permanent base and support facility for its eastern fleet at significantly less recurrent cost to the Commonwealth while also providing an ideal location in terms of logistics, engineering and operational needs. The group would like to see Port Kembla become the leading option for a possible future relocation of the facilities at Garden Island – ensuring the navy wouldn’t move out of NSW. Other areas throwing their hat into the ring and keen to see the navy stationed there include Newcastle and Brisbane – with Brisbane being suggested by Kevin Rudd during the 2013 election campaign. Last week’s meeting on the possible relocation bid included Labor MPs Sharon Bird and Noreen Hay, Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbury and council General Manager David Farmer as well as representatives from the Property Council of Australia, RDA, Illawarra Business Chamber, NSW Ports, BlueScope Steel, University of Wollongong and others. The group was overwhelmingly in support of the proposal and presenting a united Illawarra front on the issue, ensuing that if there is a move from Garden Island, Port Kembla would be top of the list. The Property Council of Australia will be involved in preparing a joint submission to government with the other key representative groups and advocating to state and federal figures. Garden Island is currently home to around 1900 naval personnel and roughly 1200 non-naval personnel are stationed at Garden Island so a move to Port Kembla would give an undeniable economic boost to the region.