Opener Sam Konstas was the notable absentee, with Marnus Labuschagne recalled and Jake Weatherald called up for the first time. Both batters are 31.
It is the second time in 12 months that 20-year-old Konstas has been dropped.
“I feel for Sammy. At the moment, if he farts it’s a headline,” said Bailey.
“We really like him. We like the skillset there and we’re confident that over the long run it will continue to build out.”
As expected, captain and pace bowler Pat Cummins was left out as he recovers from a back injury.
Head coach Andrew McDonald said in October he is “really optimistic” that Cummins, 32, will be available for the second Test in Brisbane starting on 4 December.
Starc, 35, Josh Hazlewood, 34, and Scott Boland, 36, are expected to form the pace attack, while 33-year-old Sean Abbott and 31-year-old Brendan Doggett – both are whom are uncapped – have been included in the squad.
Lyon, 37, is the only specialist spinner.
Steve Smith, who was stripped of the captaincy in 2018 following the ball-tampering scandal, will skipper the side in Cummins’ absence.
Australia are the holders of the Ashes.
England have won only one of their past 10 series in Australia – and none since 2010-11.
The five-Test series is set to end on 8 January.
Australia squad for first Test: Steve Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.
England’s Ashes squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.
