Australia's first major defence force review in a generation has concluded Western Australia's northern coast is a "primary area of military interest", and that the state needs to see greater investment in its shipbuilding capability.
The long-awaited review, prepared by former defence minister Stephen Smith and former defence chief Sir Angus Houston, found Australia had entered a new military age and must "re-posture" in response.
It found Australia's geographic benefits, including its regional advantage, had "radically reduced" over time with the need for a greater ability to project more power further from its shores.
The north-eastern Indian Ocean, "including our northern approaches", should be the nation's primary area of interest for military planning, the review found.
It comes after sustained calls from local leaders in WA's north, as well as the state government, for strengthened defences in the region, pointing to the hundreds of billions of dollars it generates for the national economy.
"If you want to damage Australia, you can damage our economy really quickly by intercepting our ability to trade," defence industry minister Paul Papalia said last year.
But the nation's Chief of Army rejected the idea the region was under-defended in August, telling the ABC that information about potential threats was more important than where defence assets were based.
Call to protect WA's economic assets
Exactly what the north of the state needed was left open by the review, beyond pointing out the need to "posture for the protection of Australia".
It said a key part of that was a "network of bases, ports and barracks" stretching from the Cocos (Keeling) Island, including RAAF bases Learmonth, near Exmouth, and Curtin, 170km east of Broome.
Mr Papalia, said those findings reflected a submission from the state government on the need for "far more capability, presence and activity" by the ADF in the north of the state, given its contributions to the national economy.
"It's critical that the source of those revenues is protected," he told reporters on Monday.
The review identified that the "age of long-range precision strike" meant defence assets closer to Perth, including HMAS Stirling and RAAF Pearce were also critical.
It also pointed out that recent floods had heightened the importance of "well-maintained and resilient civil infrastructure" including ports and roads to support that network of bases.
Mr Papalia said those same factors also showed that WA could be isolated easily.
"There needs to be at the very least stockpiling and potentially duplication of manufacturing to make sure we support defence activity on this side of the continent," he said.
China the 'highest level of strategic risk'
The review specifically laid out the threat posed by China, describing it as the "largest and most ambitious of any country since the end of the Second World War".
"As a consequence, for the first time in 80 years, we must go back to fundamentals, to take a first-principles approach as to how we manage and seek to avoid the highest level of strategic risk we now face as a nation: the prospect of major conflict in the region that directly threatens our national interest," it found.
But Mr McGowan said that was not at odds with the close economic relationship he is trying to build with China, having just returned from a five-day visit to the global superpower.
"I don't like talking about threats," he said.
"I'd rather just talk about the fact that we need to have a strong defence force, a good alliance, and we need to have strong relationships with our traditional trading partners: Korea, Japan and China."
"That is actually in our security interests to have a good relationship, a strong economic, social and cultural relationship with the countries in the region in which we live."
Shadow Defence Minister and WA Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said Mr McGowan was out of step with his federal counterparts about how to handle China.
"He is well outside the consensus across government and across the opposition that we have to respond to the challenges in our region and that includes a rising China that's both expansionist and revisionist in its aims," he said.
"He's the one left without a chair now that the music has stopped."
Efforts needed to bolster local shipbuilding
The review also called for state and federal government "intervention" in the Henderson shipyard, south of Perth, to address "significant challenges".
It found that Australia having the ability to maintain, sustain and upgrade naval vessels was "a critical component of self-reliance in national defence", with government leadership required at the nation's two major shipyards: Osborne in Adelaide and Henderson.
That government involvement was most needed at Henderson, it found, which faces "some significant challenges to give it the requisite critical mass for shipbuilding", fearing the loss of skilled workers if a pipeline of projects was not maintained.
"Under current plans there is simply not enough work to sustain the number of shipbuilders located at Henderson," the reviewers wrote.
Speaking after the review's release, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said it was an area the government was focused on.
"At the Henderson precinct we have one shipbuilder who has a contract but not a lot of workers, and we've got another shipbuilder who's got a lot of workers but not a contract," he said.
"So the DSR [Defence Strategic Review] quite rightly says the federal government has to lead a conversation about how it can consolidate at Henderson so that we have our continuous shipbuilding.
"At Osborne in Adelaide you have large vessels, frigates and destroyers, built on a continuous basis to maintain the workforce and the national capacity, and minor war vessels, patrol boats and other smaller vessels built in Henderson with a continuous workforce that is a national asset."
Mr Papalia said he hoped WA would be brought in line with South Australian shipbuilders.
"Shipbuilders in South Australia know when they complete one cycle of building ships there'll be another one coming along so they can recruit, train and retain their people," he said.
"We don't have that certainty in Western Australia. It needs to be fixed and it's good to see that minister [Mr Conroy] acknowledging that."
Mr Papalia said while there was little the state government could do directly, it would support the work of the federal government.
Henderson dry-dock 'absolutely critical'
The federal government was also encouraged to build a dry-dock facility at Henderson, first announced by the previous coalition government.
The $4 billion project, which could be used to build and service large naval and commercial vessels, was promised by then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the weeks before last year's federal election.
There's been little news on the project since then but it received renewed attention in Monday's review.
"The completion of a Henderson-based large vessel dry-dock is a critical enabler for the construction and sustainment of our naval vessels," the reviewers wrote.
Mr Conroy said plans for the dry-dock would be assessed in a naval shipbuilding plan later this year.
Mr Hastie said he wanted the dry-dock to be built "at speed".
"The second dry-dock is absolutely critical. We only have one on the east coast, and it's really important particularly with the special place that Western Australia will be taking in our defence strategy going forward," he said.
"We've got AUKUS, we've got the forward rotation west being established here, we're going to see more allied ships coming alongside in Perth, and it's really, really important that we can support our own navy and also the navies of our allies in the future years ahead."
