The Henderson warfare target

Written by: Nick G. on 27 August 2026

The Australian government earlier this week released its plans for the Henderson Defence Precinct in Western Australia.

Last September, the government announced a $12 billion downpayment on the facility that will include naval shipyards and AUKUS-related programs, with an estimated total cost of around $25 billion over the next decade.

US Empire agent of influence and Defence Minister Richard Marles said at the time that the investment was “really important in terms of getting more of our allied submarines into the water, more sea days,” adding “And this is exactly what America wants.”

And doing exactly what the Americans want is the self-appointed task of the Albanese-Marles-Wong triumvirate at the head of the Australian government.

A map released with this week’s announcement shows three areas labelled “Nuclear Powered Submarine Sustainment”, “Shipbuilding and Sustainment” and “Fabrication, support and other facilities” respectively. The latter is a civilian, non-defence related industrial area.

The whole precinct is located immediately south of Austal’s existing shipyard and takes in areas currently occupied by BAE Systems Australia, as well as civilian boat yards. 

What the map misses is the overlay of a bull’s eye target.

This was clearly stated to the Fremantle hearing of the Public Inquiry into AUKUS by none other than by Brigadier The Hon Linda Reynolds (Retd), Minister for Defence in the Morrison government from 2019 to 2021. 

Referring to a war of physical weapons, as distinct from an electro-magnetic or cyber war, as “kinetic war”, she told the Inquiry: 

If kinetic war was to break out to our north, here in Australia I believe we would be not only subjected to heighten hybrid attacks, but we would also be subjected to precision kinetic attacks. The joint facilities, bases and airfields across our approaches are already targets and a capable adversary would strike them early. A war that looked northern would not stay in the north.

The bases and assets that keep allied submarines in the fight sit on our western coast, which places this coast on the front line, not behind it.

China pledged during Mao’s socialist era not to be the first to attack, nor to be the first to use nuclear weapons. The same pledge is maintained by the social-imperialists who now control China as to do otherwise would be an open admission of aggressive intent that would damage China’s relations with the international community.

However, if the US imperialists were to launch a pre-emptive strike on China, then China would retaliate, and US bases here in Australia would be among its targets.

So, Reynolds is right – a war with China, provoked by US imperialism, would not be fought in some mythical place called “over there” – it would be fought on Australian soil and include military facilities located in or close to major cities.

US imperialism’s military bases in Australia do not make us safer. They endanger us and the only way to remove them is to break the hold that US imperialism has on our economy, our politicians, our senior bureaucrats and defence personnel.

We must fight to achieve genuine anti-imperialist independence and socialism.

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