By Tim Owen AM
Chair, Hunter Defence Taskforce
Some recent commentary has framed the Hunter’s future in ways that don’t stand up to scrutiny.
The idea that the region is shifting “from coal to weapons” is a compelling line for some interest groups, but it doesn’t reflect what is actually happening on the ground or the choices in front of us.
The Hunter is not moving from one single industry to another. It is diversifying, building strength across advanced manufacturing, clean energy, health, education and research, logistics and defence. That diversity underpins long-term resilience for the region.
Defence is already part of the Hunter’s economic base. For decades, Williamtown and the surrounding industrial network have supported Australia’s aerospace, land and maritime capabilities through sustainment, training, logistics and systems support. What is changing now is the opportunity to build more of that capability locally, strengthening sovereign industrial capability and reducing reliance on overseas supply chains.
This is practical nation-building and regional development done properly.
Some argue that public support for defence industry amounts to a handout to corporations. That is not how major industries are developed in Australia. Governments invest in enabling infrastructure, precincts and co-investment across sectors that matter to the country’s future. We see it in renewable energy, hydrogen, medical technology, transport and advanced manufacturing. Defence is no exception.
Development around Williamtown is not about special treatment. It is about building capability onshore, reducing foreign dependence, strengthening supply chain resilience and creating highly skilled jobs in our own backyard. In an uncertain world, that is a matter of judgement, not indulgence.
There is also a tendency in this debate to blur all defence industry activity into one emotionally charged category: “weapons”. It may be convenient rhetoric for some, but it obscures the reality.
Much of what local companies contribute involves sustainment, systems, components, integration, training, aerospace support and technology. This work sits within a strict national framework of export controls, oversight and compliance. It is misleading to conflate the work of Australian firms operating under strict rules with the conduct of regimes abroad or the worst examples of conflict elsewhere in the world.
People are entitled to hold strong views about conflict and Australia’s role in the world. But it does not help public understanding to suggest that regional businesses, apprentices, engineers and veterans working in lawful, regulated roles are somehow beyond the moral pale.
Another false choice is the idea that investment in defence comes at the expense of renewables, or a more sustainable economy. The Hunter does not need to choose between them.
Australia needs both. We need investment in cleaner energy, industrial transformation and new technologies. We also need the capacity to protect our people, our infrastructure, our trade routes and our sovereignty. National security is not separate from prosperity or resilience. It underpins them.
A secure nation is better able to protect democratic institutions, respond to disasters, safeguard supply chains and make independent decisions. That is not warmongering. It is the foundation of stability.
Preparedness should not be confused with aggression. Deterrence exists to reduce the likelihood of coercion and conflict. History shows that vulnerability does not create peace. Credible capability, exercised responsibly and subject to democratic oversight, helps preserve it.
After 32 years in the Royal Australian Air Force, I do not take these matters lightly. Defence is not abstract for those who have worn the uniform, supported operations or seen the consequences of instability. Precisely because conflict is so devastating to a nation, Australia must take its security seriously and build the sovereign capability needed to make its own decisions.
That includes decisions about what we build, where we build it, and whose expertise we back.
For the Hunter, this is also about people and opportunity. Defence industry brings long-term, highly skilled jobs. It creates pathways for apprentices and graduates, and opportunities for workers transitioning from other sectors. It helps retain talent in the region and strengthens a broader industrial base.
This debate should be grounded in fact, not caricature. The Hunter can lead in clean energy, continue to grow advanced manufacturing, and contribute meaningfully to Australia’s security.
These are not competing priorities. For a region with the Hunter’s skills, infrastructure and industrial base, they work together.