Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy says the planned Hunter missile factory will not install explosive warheads, slamming Greens concerns about establishing a weapons plant on council-owned land.
Mr Conroy said at a media conference at Williamtown RAAF base on Friday that the Pacific region was in an "arms race of unprecedented proportions" which required Australia to secure domestic weapons supplies.
The government announced this week that it had entered into an $850 million partnership with Norwegian arms maker Kongsberg to produce the company's Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile at a new $200 million plant at Williamtown.
Mr Conroy said the Ukraine conflict had demonstrated war fighting had moved into the "missile age" and stockpiling weapons like the NSM and JSM was crucial to the nation's defence.
The Newcastle Herald reported on Friday that Newcastle Greens councillor Charlotte McCabe believed she had been "lied to" over the plan to set up a missile factory on land owned by Newcastle Airport, which is co-owned by Newcastle and Port Stephens councils.
A report to councillors in June said the airport had "no intention" of seeking tenants at its Astra Aerolab business park which were involved in explosive ordnance manufacture or assembly.
The council's investment policy says City of Newcastle's "preference" is to avoid investing in socially or environmentally harmful activities, including "production or supply of armaments".
Cr McCabe said on Thursday that the missile factory announcement was at odds with the assurances councillors had received two months ago.
"I was told there would be no weapons manufacturing verbally in briefings many, many times," she said.
"They always treated me as if I was overreacting with my concerns and I was told, 'It's not as if we're going to make bombs.'
"So I feel like I've been lied to. I'm disgusted. It makes me feel so angry, and I'll do everything in my power to reverse the decision."
Mr Conroy shot back on Friday, labelling the Greens view "completely inaccurate, unfounded and unprincipled".
"They are claiming we're making explosive ordnance here. This is completely untrue," the Shortland MP said.
"The warhead and the booster for the Naval Strike Missile component will be integrated on Department of Defence land at Orchard Hills in western Sydney.
"We will not be manufacturing explosives in the missile factory."
He said Newcastle council was not investing in the missile plant, but the government would lease land from the council-owned Newcastle Airport to house the Kongsberg factory.
The factory will make more than 100 missiles a year, some of which could be exported.
Mr Conroy said Norwegian-made Kongsberg missiles were being fitted to Royal Australian Navy ships "so, if they're good enough to be on our naval ships, why isn't it good enough to make them in this country to get good-paying, high-skilled jobs out of it and actually earn export revenue as well".
He said the Australian community wanted a strong defence force to deter aggression and "avoid war".
Cr McCabe said on Friday that she remained vehemently opposed to the council "profiting from" weapons manufacturers regardless of whether the warheads would be installed somewhere else.
She said she was concerned about Australian-made weapons potentially being exported to Israel, whose leadership the International Criminal Court found has committed war crimes in Gaza.
Mr Conroy said the Greens had spread "lies" about Australian companies, including Hunter engineering firm Varley, supplying weapons to Israel for the Gaza conflict.
"I've had reports that apprentices and others in these impacted companies have been trying to quit their jobs because they've been reading these false claims," he said.
"That's incredibly unfortunate and weakens morale."
The JSM is destined to be fitted to the F-35 joint strike fighter, which Israel operates, but Mr Conroy's office said Kongsberg did not sell the missiles to Israel.
Most of the missile components will be sourced from overseas at first, but Mr Conroy said a "very significant share" of the contract with Kongsberg was to "maximise Australian content".
Cardiff firm Nupress won a contract in February to supply missile bodies to Kongsberg.
Kongsberg Defence Australia general manager John Fry said the company would be "qualifying" more Australian suppliers.
"There may be some elements, potentially the jet engine, that may still not be made here, but I think at the moment we're looking at all options," he said.
Asked how Australia would achieve sovereign manufacturing of the missiles if the engines were imported, Mr Conroy said: "I'm not pretending we'll be 100 per cent self-reliant, but the ability to do assembly here initially and then fill out the supply chain with Australian componentry by definition increases our sovereignty, increases our independence, because the amount that we're relying on overseas suppliers is reduced."
Kongsberg will start work on the plant this year and begin making the $4 million missiles from 2027.
The government is keeping secret the number of missiles it will buy off Kongsberg under the contract.
Mr Fry said the company would start advertising in the next four to six weeks for people to help establish the factory before recruiting and training technicians over the next two years.
He said the factory would be built in modules and had a "modest area" for expansion on its 2.2-hectare site.
"If we do need to ramp up production or we look to potentially build something else in that facility in the future as other things come on line, then we have that capability," he said.
