PREMIER Mark McGowan has laid out his ambitions for WA to become a major defence industry hub, with the release of a strategic plan to attract investment from weapons companies.

Mr McGowan, who will open the State Government’s inaugural defence industry conference today, said that he wanted WA to be the principal location for maintenance for the Federal Government’s future generation of submarines and warships.

The State Government has also said it wants to establish a defence science hub in WA and will set up a defence-focused office in the South Metropolitan TAFE to train new workers.

When it came to office, WA Labor focused on the defence industry as a potential source of new revenue as the mining industry slowed.

“The defence sector is worth billions of dollars to the economy and WA has been crying out for a strategic plan to further unlock its full potential,” Mr McGowan said. He will give details of the plan alongside Federal Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and shadow defence minister Richard Marles.

WA has long been the main maintenance hub for the navy’s fleet of submarines, generating steady revenue for local industry.

The Defence Department has suggested that with a doubling in the number of its submarine fleet, half the new vessels could be based on the east coast.

Defence officials in Canberra have also expressed quiet frustration with WA’s slowness to dredge a new shipping channel into HMAS Stirling in Rockingham, so the current one can be made redundant.

Under the leadership of Tony Abbott, the coalition government awarded the lion’s share of tens of billions of dollars in defence shipbuilding work to South Australia, when the Government had been at risk of losing a number of key Federal seats there.

In Henderson, south of Fremantle, 10 navy corvettes will be built, under a contract worth $3.5 billion, being led by German shipbuilder Luerssen.

Two of the ships will be built in Adelaide before the project is moved to WA.