Introductory Info
Date of introduction: 2025-07-24
House introduced in: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Defence
Commencement: the day after Royal Assent
Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of the Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill 2025 (the Bill) is to amend the Defence Housing Australia Act 1987 (the Act) to provide Defence Housing Australia (DHA) with the ability to provide housing and housing-related services to foreign government and defence personnel, and philanthropic organisations assisting the Australian Defence Force (such as those that provide counselling and other support services to Defence members and their families), to meet Defence’s current and future operational requirements.
Structure of the Bill
The Bill has 1 schedule which amends section 3 and section 5 of the Act. It adds 5 new definitions to subsection 3(1) of the Act:
- accredited representative of a registered charity
- government of a foreign country
- government body of a foreign country
- military organisation of a foreign country
- registered charity.
It amends section 5 of the Act to expand DHA’s main function to include providing housing and housing-related services to foreign government and defence personnel, and philanthropic organisations assisting the Australian Defence Force (ADF), to meet the operational needs of the ADF and the requirements of the Department of Defence. It also allows the Minister, by legislative instrument, to add further classes of people to whom the DHA may provide housing and housing-related services.
Background
Increasing numbers of foreign military personnel hosted in Australia
Australia is hosting an increasing number of foreign military forces as training and logistics arrangements expand with allies. Some of these include the US Force Posture Initiatives, the Australia-Japan Reciprocal Access Agreement and the Australia – Singapore Military Training Initiative. Each initiative results in increased rotational presence of foreign personnel at various locations across the country.
Previous Auditor-General recommendation
Recommendation 1 of Auditor-General Report No. 31 of 2019-20 Management of Defence Housing Australia was that ‘DHA and Defence align Defence requirements for housing philanthropic organisations assisting the ADF, and foreign exchange and visiting military personnel, with the DHA Act’. The Department of Defence and DHA agreed with the recommendation.
Submarine Rotational Force–West
The AUKUS agreement underpins an Optimal Pathway for Australia to acquire a nuclear–powered submarine capability. The pathway began with increased US nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) port visits to Australia from 2023, with Australian sailors joining US crews for training and development. The UK will increase port visits to Australia from 2026.
Building on these increased port visits, from as early as 2027, the UK and the US plan to establish a rotational presence of one UK Astute class submarine and up to four US Virginia class submarines at HMAS Stirling, Western Australia. This initiative will be known as Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West).
SRF-West will help Australia build the necessary operational capabilities and skills to be sovereign ready, so Australia can safely and securely own, operate, maintain and regulate a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines from the early 2030s.
DHA plan to reduce strain on local infrastructure near HMAS Stirling
UK and US personnel and their families will need housing during their rotations to SRF-West. Strain on local infrastructure, and especially housing was identified as a concern in the 2024 report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works (Public Works Committee): Department of Defence — Submarine Rotational Force—West, Priority Works, HMAS Stirling, Western Australia and other works (p. 8–9).
Submissions put to the Public Works Committee that highlighted housing issues included:
Housing is another critical issue. While there are plans to house some personnel at HMAS Stirling, the large influx of foreign defence personnel under AUKUS will strain the local housing market, potentially displacing vulnerable residents. To date the Alliance and its members have not been given a comprehensive briefing on how Defence intends to mitigate this impact through the construction of additional housing stock, beyond being advised of the responsible agency. In the context of a private developer, who was importing a workforce to a region, this impact would need to be addressed at the development stage, with a clear agreement in place to offset the impact.
Defence has indicated that while they sympathise with local government's predicament, they are unable to meet off-base mitigation requirements and suggest directing these requests to the Federal Government. However, ignoring these impacts poses a real threat to Defence’s social licence in the region, potentially hindering their long term aspirations’
The City is very aware of the need to urgently plan and facilitate development of housing to accommodate up to 2,000 international maintenance and support personnel associated with AUKUS. The City has committed significant resources to improve its planning framework, to ensure that it enables the construction of new dwellings (at a range of densities) and infrastructure within its City Centre; a location that is in close proximity to HMAS Stirling. The Rockingham City Centre also contains a range of existing services and amenities that are well suited to accommodate Defence personnel. The City’s population is forecast to increase by 64% over the next 23 years, increasing to almost 245,000 by 2046. It is important to note that these figures do not take into account the Department of Defence base population modelling, which will further add to the forecast population growth.
As such, the number of UK and US Defence personnel who will be relocating to Rockingham and surrounding Local Government areas will require housing, services and amenities in support of the rotational workforce. Bearing in mind the existing housing supply issues, the need to provide housing within a short timeframe presents challenges. The City is always open to discussing housing and investment opportunities, whether it be on land under the City’s ownership or management, or more generally.
In our view, it is critical that a comprehensive housing plan be created, developed and implemented in partnership with local communities and responsible authorities, to mitigate the potential adverse housing impacts of the Submarine Rotational Force – West (“SRF-W”) from increased numbers of Defence personnel who will locate to the region. Without proactive initiatives, the increased numbers of Defence personnel will have significant housing supply and cost-effectiveness implications. These include exacerbating the significant levels of housing stress and risk of homelessness already being experienced in local communities in the region.
Through a whole-of-community partnership approach, there are opportunities to deliver outcomes including the provision of housing for SRF-W-related personnel, as well as enhance housing outcome for local communities. Such strategies may include partnership with local registered community housing providers to jointly develop housing. Such a strategy may support more effective and efficient use of resources including land and construction capacity and deliver a dual benefit in growing social and affordable housing stock in the region.
DHA plan for new housing near HMAS Stirling
Defence Housing Australia (DHA) has signed 3 contracts with Western Australian businesses to deliver 550 additional new households for Defence personnel and their families close to Fleet Base West over the next 5 years. The new homes will be leased to DHA and provide accommodation close to Fleet Base West, HMAS Stirling.
Policy position of non-government parties/independents
At the time of writing, we did not find any public policy positions on the Bill by non-government parties/independents.
Key issues and provisions
Amendments are not limited to particular locations or particular foreign countries
The Bill provides broad authority to expand DHA’s provision of housing for Defence-related purposes. It is not limited to only providing housing to:
- US and UK personnel
- housing near HMAS Stirling
- military personnel.
The Bill will permit DHA to provide housing and housing related services to personnel and their families:
- of foreign military organisations (proposed paragraph 5(1)(f) of the Act)
- of foreign governments (proposed paragraph 5(1)(g) of the Act)
- of foreign military contractors and subcontractors (proposed paragraph 5(1)(h) of the Act)
- of accredited charities (proposed paragraph 5(1)(i) of the Act)
- for whom the provision of such housing and services would facilitate engagement with or for the Defence Force (proposed paragraph 5(1)(e) of the Act)
but only ‘in order to meet the operational needs of the Defence Force and the requirements of the Department’ (subsections 5(1) and (2) of the Act and items 2 and 3 of the Bill).
Additionally, the Bill will allow the Minister to determine, by legislative instrument, additional classes of people to whom DHA may provide housing and housing-related services, in order to meet the operational needs of the Defence Force and the requirements of the Department (proposed paragraph 5(1)(j) and proposed subsection 5(3) of the Act at items 3 and 4 of the Bill). Such a legislative instrument will be subject to disallowance by the Parliament.