‘Someone else’s knife fight’: AUKUS doubts resurface
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insists the AUKUS deal is “full steam ahead” despite renewed criticism over the nuclear submarine deal.
In the latest amendment to the defense agreement with the USA and the UK, Australia will purchase three second-hand Virginia class nuclear submarines from the USA, although the original terms of the agreement included two used and one new boat.
The setback has reignited scrutiny of the megacurrency deal.
Greens defense spokesman David Shoebridge told the ABC’s Insider program on Sunday it showed the biggest strategic risk Australia now faces is losing sovereignty to Washington over the nation’s defence.
Senator Shoebridge said Australia risked being dragged into a conflict between the US and China as a result and questioned the need for nuclear submarines to defend Australia’s maritime approaches.
He said that the only logic behind purchasing nuclear submarines is to support the US’s military power planning in remote regions such as the South China Sea.
He said Australia’s coastline could be defended by smaller conventional submarines or unmanned submarines.
“I don’t think we should be purchasing extremely expensive US weapons platforms just to challenge ourselves to someone else’s knife fight,” Senator Shoebridge said.
Defense Minister Richard Marles has argued that as a relatively small country, it should not be Australia’s role to police global trade routes on the other side of the planet, after he said Australia needed nuclear-powered submarines to protect the country’s maritime trade.
Senator Shoebridge’s comments come after Labor backbencher Ed Husic and former Labor Minister Peter Garrett criticized the AUKUS agreement.
But the prime minister insisted the submarines would be beneficial to Australia both economically and strategically.
“AUKUS is in full swing,” Mr Albanese told reporters on the Sunshine Coast.
“We are an island continent. It is logical for an island continent to prioritize our naval fleet, and submarines in particular have a very important effect in terms of deterrence.
“We can see what happens with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz; the difference it makes to the economy – in this case the global economy – is a huge impact.”
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