‘Possibly’: Musk on Launching SpaceX Starship in Australia

Elon Musk has left the door open to SpaceX establishing Starship launch operations in Australia with a one word answer on social media platform X.

The billionaire SpaceX founder and CEO responded on X after activist Drew Pavlou tagged him in a post listing international sites certified to meet U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) requirements.

“Possibly,” Musk replied.

The list included the proposed Space Centre Australia in Cape York, Queensland, and the inactive Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory.

These Australian sites were shared among global space centres in the French Guiana, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Brazil.

The post came after Space X announced it was actively exploring new locations for spaces ports.

“It’s no secret that we intend to launch Starship a lot, targeting thousands of flights per year,” SpaceX posted to X on May 13.

“That cadence will require the ability to launch from many different locations, so we are constantly exploring to find viable sites to expand Starship operations in the future, both domestically and internationally.”

What Advantage Can Australia Provide?

Australia’s advantages for space launches include its good location in the Southern Hemisphere and huge areas of sparsely populated land.

These features provide access to a range of launch orbits and ample capacity for frequent, high-cadence operations, according to a United States Studies Centre paper published in April 2026.

Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory was Australia’s first commercial spaceport and successfully launched three NASA suborbital rockets in 2022.

However, the centre ceased operations in 2024 due to a dispute with the local council.

Meanwhile, Space Centre Australia is a major new equatorial spaceport being developed near Weipa on Cape York in Queensland, designed for high-cadence commercial launches with ITAR-compliant capabilities.

The U.S.-Australia Technology Safeguards Agreement, which entered into force in July 2024, also facilitates greater American rocket operations on Australian soil.

So far, SpaceX has made no formal commitment to building a new launch site in Australia. The company currently operates Starship launches from Starbase in Texas and facilities in Florida.

Capital Gains Tax Fears

The development comes amid broader concerns about the future of tech investment in Australia after the Labor government announced capital gains tax (CGT) changes in the federal budget on May 12.

From July 2027, the cente-left government will replace the 50 percent CGT discount with cost-base indexation and impose a 30 percent minimum tax on net capital gains for individuals and partnerships from July 1, 2027.

Industry leaders, including Tech Council of Australia (TCA) CEO Kate Cornick warned about the risk of changes to CGT on May 12.

“TCA does have concerns as to the impact of the proposed changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) included in the budget, with CGT a vital lever for the tech sector in rewarding risk-taking by employees, founders, and investors,” she said.

“There is work to do to ensure Australia’s startup community doesn’t become collateral damage as a result of proposed changes to CGT.”