Originally Posted by
Not_a_boffin
I don't think there's an actual proposal to base a couple in Perth. That's far more likely to be a case of people adding 2+2 and getting 5.
However - it's not so long ago that visits of nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed warships to Australia were forbidden. ISTR Invincible (or possibly Lusty) having some real issues around that on a round the world tour in the mid to late 80s when she had a propulsion casualty and needed dry-docking. Not sure how many other kettle-powered ships have visited since then, although the policy is long-since defunct.
Nulcear ships have never been banned from australia. You might be thinking of NZ but australia pretty much continuously gets visted by nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Subs are way less common and neither invincible or a illustrious was nuclear powered