Infrastructure to Enable National Resilience in Australian Defence

Australia stands at a critical juncture. Infrastructure is no longer just an enabler of Defence capability; it is the foundation of national power. And this foundation must be resilient.

The Defence infrastructure we build today will underpin our sovereign capability and resilience for decades to come, particularly in strategically significant locations across the country.

Just weeks ago, Admiral David Johnston, Chief of the Defence Force, made it clear at the ASPI conference: Australia must be prepared to operate from its own soil. That is a profound shift. Since World War II, Australia has largely seen itself as a support base. With the exception of East Timor in 1999, our homeland has not been a launchpad for combat operations. That's changing. And it changes everything about how we must think, plan, and invest in infrastructure.

What resilience really means

Resilience in Defence today means delivering with certainty in the face of complexity, not just for the here and now, but also for the future in sustainable ways. It's about developing systems, local supply chains and delivery models that are flexible, adaptive and intelligent from day one. Rigid thinking won't do.

We need delivery systems that are responsive by design, able to flex with demand, scale with urgency, and operate with precision under pressure. That's what resilience looks like in practice. It's systems that can stand up to disruption and keep Defence moving, no matter the conditions.

Think about the full picture of readiness. It's not only the physical footprint (airfields and runways, ports, or bases) but also the networks that connect them, and the people who build and operate them under pressure.

Resilience also goes beyond Defence. It is a whole-of-nation effort. It includes diplomacy, biosecurity, immigration, policing, research, health, and industry. In a contested world, infrastructure must be understood not just as a utility but as an asset of security, agility, and deterrence. That means moving beyond the old model, where infrastructure was seen as a background enabler, and recognising it as a strategic asset in its own right.

Resilience is not a minimum viable capability

Resilience and minimum viable capability are not the same thing. Building and maintaining the bare minimum will never result in a strategic military asset or serve as an effective deterrent.

That doesn't mean we can't be efficient. In fact, true resilience demands a new kind of efficiency, one that's driven by innovation, not cost-cutting. One that's measured in outcomes, not just inputs.

In infrastructure terms, resilience means:

• Designing for disruption, not reacting to it
• Embedding digital tools that give us real-time visibility and control
• Using modular and off-site construction to provide program certainty and enhance quality
• Building a workforce that is skilled, agile, and future-ready

This is not theoretical. It's how Laing O'Rourke is delivering projects today.

For the Osborne North Development Precinct on the Lefevre Peninsula, we created a digital twin of the shipyard before a single pile was driven. Our work on Hinkley Point C and Oxford University in the UK demonstrated how modular construction is delivering nuclear and non-nuclear infrastructure with precision, traceability and reducing onsite workforce requirements by up to 30 per cent while dramatically compressing construction timelines.

Resilience does come at a premium. It means building in backup systems and alternative pathways (what we call redundancy and duplication). That might mean having more than one fuel supply line, or multiple airstrips that can support the same aircraft. These aren't luxuries. They are safeguards designed to keep operations going when the unexpected happens.

And if we approach these safeguards with a conventional mindset, focused only on short-term cost, we'll miss the point. Because in a crisis, the cost of failure is far greater than the cost of preparation.

We're seeing this approach embraced across the NATO alliance. Member nations have committed to dedicating 5% of their GDP to national security by 2035: 3.5% for core Defence requirements, and 1.5% for critical infrastructure and security-related projects that strengthen both military and civilian resilience. That's not just a military investment. It's an economic one. It's a resilience strategy.

Australia must now ask: What does our version of that look like?

Delivering resilience in a resource-constrained environment

We are not operating in a vacuum. We are operating in a constrained market, with tight labour, volatile supply chains, and rising complexity. So, how do we deliver resilience in that environment?

Delivering resilience in this environment requires more than smart design. It demands a coordinated, long-term strategy that builds capability across the system.

From a technical perspective, this means embracing:

• Construction-led design
• Digital project management
• Progressive assurance
• Advanced manufacturing

But these technical solutions alone won't solve our challenges. We also design resilience by taking a whole-of-system approach to delivery, engaging with the supply chain to build sovereign capability and avoid bottlenecks.

This, in turn, also means investing in people.

Australia's Defence ambitions are being tested by a workforce under pressure. This is not just a construction issue. It's a national capability issue.

The nation needs a coordinated response that brings together government, industry, and education to grow the Defence construction workforce of the future.

The Australia Submarine Agency (ASA)’s Director-General Jonathan Mead has emphasised that the AUKUS opportunity is not just about submarines. It's about people. The engineering students and apprentices of today will be the juniors on tomorrow's nation-building projects. And as these mega-projects evolve, they will become the project directors and leaders of the future.

Young Australians, educators, and industry must be challenged to pursue technical studies and careers that support AUKUS from a construction and infrastructure perspective. The capability we need tomorrow starts with the people we invest in today.

At Laing O'Rourke, we're stepping up. We're investing in skills, training, and new career pathways. We're running our Inspiring STEM+ school engagement program across Australia to inspire the next generation. We’re partnering with Indigenous businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, and technology partners. And we're employing hundreds of veterans to build capability where it's needed most.

This capability-building is particularly important as Australia takes on projects requiring specialised expertise, like nuclear submarine facilities, where we're building entirely new sovereign capabilities. Our combined Defence and nuclear expertise helps us bridge these critical capability gaps.

We're also embracing innovation. Not as a buzzword, but as a necessity. Because in a constrained market, innovation, which I'll define here as challenging the norm for a better outcome, is the enabler. It is how we unlock capacity, reduce risk, and deliver with certainty.

So, resilience in this environment isn't about doing more with less. It's about doing things differently, smarter, faster, and more collaboratively. It's about aligning delivery models with strategic outcomes and ensuring that every investment builds not just infrastructure, but also capability.

This represents both an opportunity and a responsibility that the industry is ready to lead.

Building a ready supply chain

Defence often expresses a preference for certainty in infrastructure delivery over experimentation. However, the reality is that the supply chain is not yet ready to deliver certainty at scale unless we invest in building it. And building capability means taking responsibility.

For the Osborne North Development Precinct, we didn't just deliver infrastructure, we lifted the market - 90% of contracts were locally procured, 95% of steel came from Australian suppliers, and we brought SMEs into the fold by developing packaging strategies that target existing capability and presented opportunities to reach stretch targets, by providing training in digital engineering, and helping them plan to scale. That's how you create sovereign capability.

This is not a side benefit. It's the job. If we want a resilient Defence infrastructure ecosystem, we must co-develop the supply chain that supports it. This means developing long-term partnerships, enabling capability uplift, and driving shared accountability between government and industry.

AUKUS is a national opportunity for us to expand our capability and work with the supply chain to build theirs in a way that facilitates the delivery of outstanding outcomes.

Embracing innovation as a strategic advantage

Innovation is often seen as a risk. But in today's environment, not innovating is the bigger risk.

The Defence sector worldwide already invests billions in innovation across aerospace, cyber, and advanced systems. It's time we brought that same ambition and risk appetite into infrastructure and delivery models.

At Laing O'Rourke, we don't see innovation as novelty or necessarily riskier than the norm. We see it as structured problem-solving that is faster, better and more predictable than the standard way.

We understand that Defence requires tight control, assurance, and traceability. These innovative solutions work exactly within those requirements. In fact, they enhance them through predictable factory conditions, standardised processes, and proven methodologies.

But innovation also requires trust. It requires Defence to be comfortable saying yes to new approaches, not all at once, but incrementally. That's the mindset shift we need. And it's one we are ready to support.

The path forward

Defence capability is only as strong as the infrastructure that sustains it, and the people and supply chain that can build and operate it.

Logistics hubs. Fuel and water systems. Munitions storage. Maintenance facilities. These are not back-of-house assets; they are front-line enablers that must be designed to flex to support both Defence operations and civil continuity in times of disruption.

As Brigadier Professor Ian Langford, Distinguished Service Cross and Bars, recently noted in an article in The Conversation, AUKUS may strengthen our deterrence posture in the 2030s, but it does little to prepare us for a near-term fight. That's why we must invest now, in infrastructure, in people, and in systems that deliver readiness today, not just tomorrow.

The message from Defence leadership is clear: Australia must be ready to operate from its own soil. That shift demands more than a change in posture. It requires a transformation in how we plan, invest, and deliver infrastructure. Resilience, backup systems, contingency infrastructure, and capacity development are no longer optional. They are the new baseline. And industry must be ready to deliver against that standard.

That means:

• Integrating supply chains and industry across all sectors
• Collaborating with State and Territory governments to ensure community benefit and workforce development
• Co-investing with allies and private partners to unlock shared value and capability

This goes beyond Defence. It speaks to our national resilience. Our ability to build infrastructure that holds firm under pressure, evolves with changing needs, and delivers certainty when it counts.

We are stepping up to the workforce challenge because we know that no infrastructure is resilient without the people to build, operate, and sustain it.

We are proud to be a trusted partner in enabling sovereign defence and nuclear capability because we believe that infrastructure is not just a platform for defence. It is a platform for national strength.

These insights were shared by Glen Billington, General Manager Defence at Laing O'Rourke, as part of his keynote address at the Australian Defence Magazine’s South Australian Defence Summit in Adelaide on 1 July 2025.