As stated by Sophie McNeill MLC, The Greens (WA) spokesperson for AUKUS/ Peace and non-Violence:
"The secret is finally out. The US is being invited to transform Henderson into a key nuclear submarine maintenance hub.
"This is a massive shift from what the community was originally told about AUKUS.
"Now, it's clear that the Cockburn Sound foreshore is slowly going to become a massive US base, and potentially one of just five facilities worldwide where US nuclear submarines can undergo deep cycle maintenance.
"This looks like it has come out of US demands in their AUKUS review - to which the Albanese government has dutifully obeyed, pandering to the Trump administration's every demand.
"Meanwhile, Western Australians have been left in the dark about what this would mean for nearby residents and for public access to Cockburn Sound.
"Just three weeks ago, I questioned Minister Dawson during budget estimates about whether Henderson would become a maintenance base for US nuclear-powered submarines, and he claimed "no decision has been made by the Commonwealth about what is in that defence precinct."
"It is time the Cook government came clean about just how much of WA is being handed over to the US military.
"This shock news about Henderson comes as the Australian Submarine Agency are holding "community town halls" in Rockingham and Fremantle this week to try and make it look like they are consulting with the community.
"The reality is the opposite. There is zero indication of what this will mean for the local community regarding safety, public access, and nuclear waste storage at Henderson.
"Enough lies and secrecy.
"Western Australians are being deliberately drip-fed tiny bits of information about AUKUS because both the state and federal government knows the social licence of this project is non-existent."
As stated by Federal Greens Foreign Affairs and Defence Spokesperson Senator David Shoebridge:
"This latest $12 billion AUKUS promise from the Albanese Labor government is designed so the PM has a fresh tribute payment for Trump if they meet next week in New York.
"The timing of this announcement could not be more cynical, or more obviously designed to deliver a military base for the US rather than peace and security for Australia.
"While the $12 billion commitment is a shockingly large amount, the Albanese Government says it really wants to spend $25 billion building AUKUS-related facilities at Henderson over the next decade.
"Because none of this additional funding is contained in this budget or even the forward estimates, what Labor is doing is robbing funding from housing, climate and education from future budgets. That's an appalling misdirection for our country.
"The Albanese Government has been actively misleading the public about the scale of US military deployments in Australia.
"When it was first announced, Labor claimed Henderson would have no role in the AUKUS nuclear submarine program, but it is now being made a key cog.
"It is the same playbook we saw with their nuclear waste Bill, mislead, gaslight and then steamroll ahead, ignoring the locals.
"AUKUS is an independence firesale, with the Albanese Government putting no limits on the US military's ambition for our real estate."
