The AUKUS agreement is “full steam ahead”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insists, despite renewed criticism over the nuclear submarine deal.
In the latest alteration to the defence agreement with the United States and the UK, Australia will receive three second-hand Virginia-class nuclear submarines from the US, despite the original terms of the arrangement stipulating two used and one new boat.
The setback has reignited scrutiny over the mega-money deal.
It showed the greatest strategic risk Australia faced at the moment was losing sovereignty to Washington over the defence of the nation, Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
Australia risked being dragged into a conflict between the US and China as a result, Senator Shoebridge said, and questioned the need for nuclear submarines to defend Australia’s maritime approaches.
The only rationale behind acquiring nuclear submarines was to support the US in projecting military force in far-flung regions like the South China Sea, he said.
Australia’s coastline could be defended by smaller conventional submarines or unmanned submersibles, he said.
“I don’t think we should be buying exquisitely expensive US weapons platforms to invite ourselves to someone else’s knife fight,” senator Shoebridge said.
He argued that, as a relatively small nation, it should not be Australia’s role to police global trade routes on the other side of the planet, after Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia needed nuclear-powered submarines to protect the nation’s sea trade.
Senator Shoebridge’s comments came after Labor backbencher Ed Husic and former Labor minister Peter Garrett criticised the AUKUS deal.
But the prime minister insisted the submarines would be beneficial for Australia, both economically and strategically.
“AUKUS is full steam ahead,” Mr Albanese told reporters in the Sunshine Coast.
“We’re an island continent. It makes sense for an island continent to prioritise our naval fleet, and in particular, submarines have a very important impact in deterrence.
“We can see what is happening with the Strait of Hormuz being closed, the difference that that makes to an economy – in this case to the global economy – is having a massive impact.”
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