Portfolio — 3 June 2026

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles used question time on 3 June to advance two distinct but complementary lines on the defence portfolio: the employment dividend from AUKUS and the rationalisation of the defence estate. On AUKUS, Marles told the House that the program has already created more than a thousand high-paid union jobs across submarine construction, training and support facilities [TA-260603-house-804d9cb5f6e1:s217].

He framed the long-term scale explicitly, putting eventual employment at 10,000 workers at Osborne in South Australia and thousands more at Henderson in Western Australia — a figure that anchors the program's domestic industrial footprint in two separate states [TA-260603-house-804d9cb5f6e1:s217]. On the estate side, Marles confirmed the government is transferring surplus defence properties — naming HMAS Penguin specifically — to the Department of Finance, with community consultation on future use to follow over coming years [TA-260603-house-804d9cb5f6e1:s218].

Together, the two lines reflect a consistent portfolio posture: grow sovereign submarine capability and workforce at the active sites while shedding assets no longer required for operational purposes. The HMAS Penguin transfer signals a cross-portfolio connection to Finance in how surplus estate is managed, though the records attribute the decision firmly to the Defence portfolio.

No opposition positions or contested exchanges are captured in the available records for this sitting day.