About 40 people were in attendance at the protest, including Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes, in support of Newcastle remaining a nuclear free zone.

A City of Newcastle spokesperson said Cr Nelmes attended the rally briefly but did not speak, before attending a prior engagement. Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears said Cr Nelmes had thanked him for organising the rally, and reinforced the council's anti-nuclear position.

Friday's protest was the first since news broke on Monday that Newcastle was on a shortlist of three cities being considered for a new nuclear-powered submarine base.

South Coast Labor Council secretary Arthur Rorris told the event the government used the announcement as "a scapegoat."

"At a time when our country is drowning just after it was burnt what does Scott Morrison do? Throw in a weapon of mass destruction," he said.

"This is total incompetence that they are trying to cover up. When you are that desperate for votes Scott Morrison puts the finger on the nuclear button and says he will find something so big, so bad that people are finally going to stop talking about bushfires and floods and pandemics and any other crisis and it will get them talking about this.

"Becoming a nuclear target is no prize, it is a curse. It is a curse that we are not going to cop on our communities."

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Hunter Workers created a declaration to ensure Newcastle remains a nuclear free zone, which secretary Leigh Shears said they will uphold.

"I stand confident that the working people of this region stand firm that Newcastle is a nuclear free zone and will remain so. We will do everything in our power and everything available to us to ensure that we hold the line," he said.

Mr Rorris said Newcastle has a proud history of providing workers to keep Australia functioning, but the proposal would do the opposite.

"It will not create jobs, [Scott Morrison] is going to crowd out the jobs we have and are likely to have. Newcastle is on the cusp of multi billion dollar investments in hydrogen and in lots of other technologies that will likely soak up some of the damage that he has done to our existing industries," he said. "When we are on the verge of this, why would you bring in the American military to take up half your port? You reckon they are going to let you, the locals here in Newcastle, use your port while they have got nuclear submarines? And do you reckon it will just be a place for our subs?

"They will probably call it a joint facility, but the only thing joint about it will be our flag which will probably be made in China too. Why? Because it takes their nuclear machines back at home in America, the UK or elsewhere to actually facilitate the reprocessing and the maintenance of the subs."

Hunter Peace Group secretary Linda Forbes also spoke at the protest, calling on the government not to allow the proposal to go ahead.

"They are talking about 2044 and although I won't be here then I will have grandchildren and great grandchildren who will be here at that time and I do not want them living in a nuclear, scary world and a scary country and I don't want Newcastle to be a nuclear port now or then," she said.

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