By Darian Macey, May 18 2026
Why private finance must move from idea to bankable model
Australia’s defence resilience challenge is no longer confined to bases, platforms and uniformed capability. It now extends across the national support base: the infrastructure, industry, workforce and critical materiel that Defence will rely on during crisis or conflict.
That is the central argument of DECNET’s new white paper, Funding National Support Base Resilience: Private Finance Pathways for Defence Support and Logistics Infrastructure.
The paper examines how Australia can fund the support systems that sit behind operational capability: ports, fuel, warehousing, accommodation, deployable camps, maintenance facilities, logistics precincts, airfields, roads, utilities and industrial surge capacity.
The conclusion is clear. Private finance is attractive, but it is not yet resolved.
The funding problem
Defence resilience is often discussed as though it can be solved by building more Defence-owned infrastructure or stockpiling more supplies. That is not realistic.
Major General Jason Walk, Head of Defence National Support Division, framed the issue directly at NT Defence Week. Defence will not build resilience alone. It will depend on a broader network of government, industry, academia and society. He described the national support base through four factors: infrastructure, industry, workforce and critical materiel. He also identified private financing as an attractive option, particularly for support and logistics, while noting that Defence and investors still need to work through how national security requirements can become investable commercial models.
That distinction matters.
Private finance is not free money. It does not remove the need for Defence to pay for resilience. It can, however, help bring forward investment, discipline whole-of-life maintenance, and use dual-use assets more effectively where there is a clear commercial model.
Why support and logistics are the best starting point
The strongest private finance opportunities are not necessarily the biggest or most complex Defence projects. They are the projects where Defence can define a service output clearly enough for investors to price it.
That means assets and services such as:
- secure warehousing and theatre logistics facilities
- deployable camp infrastructure held under standing capacity contracts
- fuel storage, distribution and shared stockholding arrangements
- dual-use port and maritime support infrastructure
- accommodation delivered under availability-style models
- maintenance, repair and sustainment facilities
- road, airfield and logistics precinct upgrades with civilian or allied use
These are more bankable than many traditional military capabilities because they often have dual-use value. A warehouse, fuel facility, port hardstand, accommodation precinct or deployable camp system may support Defence in crisis while also serving commercial, emergency management or allied needs in peacetime.
But dual-use value is not enough. Defence must have enforceable priority access, surge rights, step-in powers, security controls and readiness testing. Without those, commercial infrastructure is not resilience. It is merely infrastructure.
The bankability test
The white paper argues that every proposed private finance opportunity should be tested against a simple question:
Can Defence define the required service clearly enough for a lender, investor and operator to price it — and clearly enough for Defence to activate it under pressure?
If the answer is no, the project is not ready for private finance.
A bankable national support base project needs:
- a defined service output
- a predictable payment stream
- measurable availability or readiness standards
- clear security and sovereignty controls
- crisis activation rights
- lifecycle maintenance obligations
- realistic treatment of approvals, environmental risk and community constraints
- a compensation regime if Defence step-in or national security use changes the asset’s commercial value
This is where many private finance proposals fail. They describe strategic importance but not investable cash flows. They talk about resilience but not payment, activation, performance or risk allocation.
Candidate projects assessed
The white paper includes a detailed private finance candidate evaluation report. It reviews ten possible candidates, including:
- Australian Defence Force Academy Live-In Accommodation
- LAND 8218 Deployable Camp Infrastructure
- LAND 8710 Littoral Manoeuvre Capability facilities and landing craft considerations
- Gascoyne Gateway near Exmouth
- RAAF Learmonth fuel storage
- Chowder Bay fuel upgrade
- Randwick Barracks Living-in Accommodation
- Captain Cook Graving Dock upgrade
- HMAS Stirling causeway duplication
- Facilities to Support Theatre Logistics work packages at Henderson and Berrimah
The strongest first-wave candidates are theatre logistics facilities, deployable camp standing capacity, selected LAND 8710 support facilities, north-west fuel resilience, and Gascoyne Gateway if Defence or allied anchor demand can be contracted.
The weaker candidates are not unimportant. Some, such as Captain Cook Graving Dock and Chowder Bay fuel infrastructure, are strategically significant. But they are less suitable for broad private finance because they are highly sensitive, single-user, difficult to commercialise, and likely better suited to public ownership with private operation, maintenance or separable delivery packages.
The key recommendation
The white paper recommends a National Support Base Financing Framework.
This framework would allow Defence to triage candidate projects before approaching the market. It would test each proposal against demand certainty, bankability, dual-use value, approval maturity, security controls and mobilisation rights.
It would also create standard commercial clauses for:
- priority access
- crisis activation
- step-in rights
- cyber and data security
- foreign ownership controls
- performance testing
- termination and compensation
- commercial co-use
- readiness auditing
The aim is not to launch a broad and unfocused private finance program. The aim is to start with a small number of practical pilots, prove the model, then scale what works.
Why this matters now
Australia’s strategic environment is deteriorating. Defence capability will depend increasingly on whether the national support base can absorb disruption, surge support, repair infrastructure, move stock, sustain people, and keep logistics flowing.
That requires investment.
Some of that investment must come directly from government. Some can be delivered through industry. Some can be financed privately where the commercial model is real.
The danger is treating private finance as a slogan. The opportunity is treating it as a disciplined tool.
Download the white paper
DECNET’s new white paper sets out a practical pathway for turning private finance from an attractive but unresolved idea into a bankable model for national support base resilience.
It includes the full candidate evaluation report, commercial model options, recommended pilot projects and implementation roadmap.
Author: Darian Macey
Darian is a former Engineering Officer with the RAE with tertiary qualifications in Engineering and Project Management. He is a leading practitioner within Australia's NSI sector with previous employment in Government, project management and building contractor organisations.
