Mr Morrison's lunchtime address to the Lowy Institute was welcomed by defence industry experts and by the chief executive of Port of Newcastle, Craig Carmody, who said the port would "participate in the process".

But critics including Independent Senator Rex Patrick, a former submariner, have questioned the time, saying the base choice will not be made until next year, and accusing the Coalition of fomenting a "khaki election", due by May 21.

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Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said Labor supported nuclear submarines and is due to give a corresponding address to the Lowy Institute on Thursday.

But Labor front-bencher Tanya Plibersek - in the Hunter yesterday - and Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon both slammed the announcement, saying the Hunter was unlikely to believe a government that had dudded the region "on so many occasions" while wasting billions of dollars and years of valuable time mishandling the submarine contracts.

Former Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull continued his criticisms of the Morrison government saying the AUKUS deal tied us to submarines we "can't build, can't maintain and will not be able to operate on our own".

Federal Greens candidate for Newcastle, Charlotte McCabe, said Newcastle was an absurd and dangerous choice and a nuclear-free zone since 1982.

Port Kembla is reportedly the Defence Department's preferred choice in a short-list whittled down from 19 original sites but chair of the Hunter Defence lobby group, Tim Owen, backed Newcastle for the job, saying it had all of the necessary requisites, including the existing presence of major defence contractors.

Critics say Port Kembla presents difficulties for heavy machinery access and delivery presented by the steep inclines and tight bends of the Illawarra Escarpment.

The submarine offensive started on Sunday when Defence Minister Peter Dutton foreshadowed an announcement "within the next couple of months about which boat we are going with (and) what we can do in the interim".

Even though Mr Dutton said the submarine acquisition process had been brought forward a year, critics point out that the first vessels are unlikely to be ready until about 2040, meaning an interim measure - possibly the leasing of existing US or UK vessels alongside the existing Collins Class diesel submarines - may be necessary.

Mr Morrison used yesterday's address - given remotely because the PM is isolated with COVID - to confirm the east coast subs base plan foreshadowed overnight.

Mr Morrison said an agreement on the sharing of nuclear technology was signed on February 8, the first of its type since 1958 and a sign of the trust that the AUKUS partners the United Kingdom and United States had in Australia.

READ MORE: Locals object to Port Kembla as a nuclear target

"The process isn't just about deciding the technology and boat option we go forward with," Mr Morrison said.

"There's a whole series of things that have to take place after that. We don't anticipate that should be done before the election - it won't be done in that time frame."

Mr Morrison said Defence officials would be talking with the NSW and Queensland governments about setting up the new base, which is part of a $10 billion budget allocation foreshadowed on Sunday by Mr Dutton.

The three sites had been chosen because of their proximity to industrial infrastructure, large population centres, deep water, maritime training and weapons storage and loading facilities.

Mr Morrison said a second submarine base on the east coast would enhance strategic deterrent capability and carry significant operational, training, personnel and industrial advantages.

He said tensions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine highlighted the higher threat environment Australia was operating in.

"It highlights the threat of autocracies . . . and why we need greater capabilities but I think all of those points were driving the forces of AUKUS before these events took place, and it continues to carry it," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Albanese said he supported nuclear submarines but was yet to hear how the submarine industry in Adelaide would be affected.

"There were immediate job losses there, and I couldn't find (Adelaide) anywhere in the announcement . . . but we have not received the courtesy of a briefing in advance, so therefore, I'm not going to sign off automatically on that detail," Mr Albanese told Adelaide radio yesterday, noting an SA election was set for March 19, with defence jobs a key issue.

Liberal candidate for Paterson Brooke Vitnell said she had called in November for Newcastle's involvement in submarines and said the base was a big opportunity for the region.

Defence writer Bradley Perrett - who has written an opinion piece for the Herald today - said an east coast submarine base would provide employment for at least 1000 people including submarine crews.

Mr Perrett said the obvious Newcastle locations were the still-vacant former steelworks site at Mayfield or somewhere on the southern side of Kooragang Island.

He raised concerns of a potential defence conflict between the coal trade and a port defence base, saying: "If I were a naval officer reviewing this, I would worry about the presence of Chinese bulk carriers near my possible submarine base. It is not far-fetched to imagine an attack on the base launched from an apparently innocent merchant ship at the outbreak of a war."

That said, it should be noted that China is presently refusing to buy Australian coal, while the smaller Port Kembla Coal Terminal would present a similar theoretical obstruction should the China/Australia coal trade resume.

On the likely objections to Newcastle housing submarines powered by nuclear reactors, Mr Perrett said western warships had an outstanding safety record, and Australia would have to follow the existing US and UK safety regimes in order to receive the technology.

Senator Rex Patrick made public a 2011 Defence report obtained under FOI that had Sydney as its preferred option, and described the latest news as Mr Morrison's attempt to "gloss over his government's disgraceful national security failures".

"Newcastle has its strengths, but the edge that it has with respect to positive people factors disappears under the influence of its isolation from any other naval infrastructure, its susceptibility to river flooding and its sometimes difficult harbour entrance, which for submarines on the surface in a queue of large bulk coal carriers is particularly significant," the 2011 report said.

Mr Owen - a former RAAF air commodore and state Liberal MP for Newcastle - said the Hunter's longstanding shipbuilding capability would be be able to support the construction and operation of a new submarine base capable of hosting multiple vessels.

"We are the only one of the three short-listed regions with both historic and modern shipbuilding capability, given the construction of the Huon class minehunters by Thales at Carrington and the various hull modules built for the Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) vessels and the Anzac frigates before that," Mr Owen said.

"You have companies such as Civmec (operator of the former Forgacs operations), Thales and Varley all here in the port, as well as the aerospace skills of BAE, Lockheed Martin and others at Williamtown."

Mr Owen stressed that the arrival of nuclear submarines in Australia would not mean a need to build "a nuclear industry" to support them.

He said the vessels had self-contained propulsion units and his understanding is that the nuclear equipment on board was designed to operate for the full life of the vessel, and if Australia chose the British Astute class submarine with a US propulsion system - which is understood to be one of the leading contenders - then clearly BAE's largest facility on the east coast of Australia is in Newcastle.

As Mr Morrison had said earlier, Mr Owen said Australia was a bastion for democratic values and needed to uphold those values through supporting a strong defence capability.

"We have three-quarters of the F-35As here at Williamtown," Mr Owen said.

"There are times when democratic nations including Australia have to defend the rules-based system, and Newcastle has long had a role in that defence."

Mr Turnbull said acquiring nuclear-powered submarines was the worst thing to do in the face of rising global tensions and the AUKUS deal amounted to an "abandonment of sovereignty".

"It's going to result in us having nuclear submarines, if it ever comes to pass, that we not only can't build, can't maintain and will not be able to operate on our own," he told ABC Radio.

READ MORE: Yesterday's online Herald coverage

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