Remote Communities Told To Wait While Australia Buys Nuclear Subs To Defend Them

CANBERRA, NGUNNAWAL COUNTRY – The Australian Government has announced the largest peacetime increase in defence spending in the nation’s history – $53 billion over the next decade – to address what Defence Minister Richard Marles called a “more dangerous and uncertain world.”

The 2026 National Defence Strategy commits to nuclear submarines under AUKUS, expanded drone capability and long-range missile systems – all designed to defend Australian soil from threats originating thousands of kilometres away. The strategy did not mention the ongoing threat of no dialysis services within 500 kilometres of several remote Aboriginal communities but noted that “middle powers that don’t take on more responsibility for their own security will be more exposed to coercion.”

The strategy was launched at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday – on Ngunnawal Country – to an audience that did not include anyone from the communities most likely to be used as strategic depth in the event of conflict in Australia’s northern approaches.

Defence planners confirmed that Australia’s northern arc – widely understood to include significant amounts of Aboriginal land – is now central to the nation’s forward defence posture. Consultation with Traditional Owners of that arc is ongoing, in the sense that it has been ongoing since 1788 and has not yet resulted in an agreement.

An additional $14 billion will be allocated across the next four years. Remote housing waitlists in the Northern Territory are currently sitting at over 2,000 households.

“We are spending better” the Minister said.

A spokesperson for a peak Aboriginal community organisation in the NT said they had submitted a funding request for $3.2 million for essential services infrastructure in 2022 and had received two acknowledgement emails.

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Australia confirmed it will host US nuclear submarines at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia – on Whadjuk Noongar Country – as part of the Submarine Rotational Forces-West arrangement. Traditional Owners were not listed as signatories.