Does population cap Australian naval industry?

Did Australia's population impose a low ceiling on its naval industrial capacity?

Not as much as commonly assumed; adequate transport and industrial infrastructure could connect the population and resources into a stronger productive base.

Australia's population could support more construction if rail and other links joined its productive regions effectively. Population is not useful industrial capacity unless workers, raw materials, and finished goods can move between regions. The single-track transcontinental routes show how limited connectivity can constrain a continent with substantial resources and technical potential. Transport infrastructure was therefore part of naval industrial policy rather than a separate civilian concern.