Husic emphasised the flow-on benefits for local industry from the mammoth project and said he wanted to see as much of the work going to Australian industry as possible.

The AUKUS plan includes $10 billion for an east coast base to house the submarines, with Brisbane and Newcastle named as options but the industrial city of Port Kembla seen as the government’s most likely choice.

The May Day march usually draws 750 workers and their families from the unionised industries of Wollongong but will be moved to Port Kembla on May 6 to create a platform to oppose the AUKUS plan and attract more protestors.

The proposed new date of the march moves it closer to the anticipated arrival of US President Joe Biden later in May for the Quad summit in Sydney.

The decision was taken on Tuesday night by the South Coast May Day Committee, a group that includes Labor members such as Rorris but also union officials and members of the community, independent of any political party.

Rorris said the group’s concerns about AUKUS were about the national interest more than a local objection or a “not in my backyard” protest.

“We are under no illusions about who we are up against, the military bosses and the US Navy who can’t wait to move in,” he said.

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“We know we can’t do this alone so we are inviting our friends far and wide to join us on May 6 and help us save our port, our jobs and to prevent a nuclear target being placed on our backs.

“Everyone needs to understand that Port Kembla is the beating heart of our traditional industrial base, the Australian steel industry and a foundation for Australian manufacturing.

“The investments earmarked for Port Kembla as a renewable energy base run into the tens of billions of dollars and over 8,000 jobs according to NSW Treasury figures. You would have to be a mug to trade that for a nuclear parking lot and a few more late night bars for visiting US sailors.”

The federal government has pledged to invest billions of dollars in two future bases for the submarine fleet, one of them on the west coast at HMAS Stirling near Perth and the other on the east coast at one of three options put forward by the Department of Defence: Port Kembla, Brisbane or Newcastle.

The former government named the three potential locations in March last year, provoking concerns in Port Kembla within a day of the announcement.

There is no stated deadline for a decision on the east-coast base and there has been speculation that the shallowness of the Brisbane River and the congestion in commercial shipping at the Port of Newcastle mean that Port Kembla is the more likely choice by the government for the base.

Rorris challenged the power of federal officials to decide the base over local objections.

“The name is Port Kembla not Fort Kembla,” he said.

“We will not cop lectures about the national interest from the spooks and arms dealers. There would not be a steel industry in this country today if it were not for the massive sacrifices made by the workers of Port Kembla just to keep the furnaces burning and prevent it from sailing away like the car industry.

“At least we know whose jobs and which nation’s interest we are defending.”