Nuclear subs critical against China threat

The Prime Minister must get Australia’s relationship with brazen China back on track but the submarine deal shows he won’t buckle to bullies.

Sometimes it takes a few steps back to take a big step forward.

It’s five years since Australia struck a $50bn deal for 12 French submarines — nuclear-powered boats which the federal government specifically sought to convert to diesel.

Between that, and their political decision to build them in South Australia, the project quickly hit choppy waters.

Audits showed it was running behind schedule and the price-tag skyrocketed to $90bn.

This week, Scott Morrison cut the taxpayer’s losses — $2.4bn plus plenty more in compensation — to make what he described as “the single largest step we have been able to take to advance our defence capabilities in this country”.

The new AUKUS partnership will replace the French boats with at least eight nuclear submarines, built with the support of the US and the UK.

As China has become increasingly assertive and brazen, especially in the South China Sea, nuclear submarines have loomed as a gap in Australia’s armoury.

Morrison’s announcement, while it was an incredibly well-kept secret for 18 months, is not overly surprising in hindsight.

The PM has been forcefully shifting the Defence Force’s focus to the Indo-Pacific, both in terms of its posture and structure, and this has been accelerated with Peter Dutton’s appointment as Defence Minister.

Critics, led by former prime minister Paul Keating, are upset that AUKUS makes Australia even more reliant on the US.

There is some truth in this, but it is the right choice, especially as regional alliances such as the Quad — also including India and Japan — are strengthened.

Morrison must continue to try and get Australia’s relationship with China back on track. This does not mean he should buckle to the Communist Party’s extraordinary acts of coercion and interference.

He must also continue to strengthen Australia’s sovereignty and security, and nuclear submarines are a critical part of that equation.

If all goes to plan, construction will start sometime later this decade, with the first boat in the water before 2040.

On Thursday, Morrison said there had been “game-changing developments in the strategic circumstances of our region, which continue to accelerate at a pace even not envisaged as little as five years ago”.

There is no more time to waste.

Originally published as Nuclear subs critical against China threat