‘Save Australia from itself’: Paul Keating fires up as Trump administration announces review into deal
Donald Trump’s bombshell call today could “save Australia from itself”, one former Prime Minister has claimed.
America’s bombshell review into the future of the AUKUS nuclear power submarine deal could be the “moment Washington saves Australia from itself”, former Prime Minister Paul Keating has said.
Australia made its first AUKUS down payment to the US in February, transferring nearly $800 million to help boost the country’s submarine production.
Overnight, the Trump Administration announced its biggest AUKUS sceptic Elbridge Colby will head a review into whether the US should pull out of the submarine deal with Australia.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has joined the chorus of Australia’s own AUKUS sceptics, saying the move “might very well be the moment Washington saves Australia from itself … from the most poorly conceived defence procurement program ever adopted by an Australian government”.
In a statement, Mr Keating described AUKUS as being “hurriedly scribbled on the back of an envelope by Scott Morrison, along with the vacuous British blowhard Boris Johnson, and the confused president, Joe Biden – put together on an English beach, a world away from where Australia’s strategic interests primarily lie”.
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“The Albanese government had the chance to undertake a review on its own terms when first elected to office in May 2022, but denied itself the opportunity for fear of being seen as dodgy on the alliance,” Mr Keating said.
“Now President Trump’s Pentagon, as it is entitled to do, is subjecting the deal to the kind of scrutiny that should have been applied to AUKUS in the first instance.
“The review makes clear that America keeps its national interests uppermost. But the concomitant question is: why has Australia failed to do the same?”
Turnbull trashes Aussie sub ‘fiasco’
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier warned the deal risks becoming a billion-dollar “fiasco” for Australia, telling news.com.au that the “terrible deal” inked by Scott Morrison had always included a clause or caveat that no submarines will be handed over unless it had submarines to spare.
“So this is a risk that Australia has taken with its eyes wide open,” Mr Turnbull said.
“It will be a fiasco, I think. So that’s one alternative. Another alternative is to go back to France. They’ve been double crossed once before.
“It is a debacle. I’ve been saying this for years. It was a debacle when Morrison recklessly entered into it, and it was a debacle when Labor, to avoid a political wedge, went along.
“It’s fundamentally a bad deal. I’m not saying naval nuclear propulsion is a bad idea. It’s a good idea, but it’s, you know, a very expensive one, and you sure you can pay for it.
“But the, but the problem with this deal is it’s so asymmetrical, you know, we give the Americans $3 billion, they only have to give us submarines if they feel they could spare them.
“This whole exercise is designed to get us nuclear powered submarines, but the upshot could be that we end up with no submarines at all.”
Scott Morrison defends AUKUS
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has taken to social media to defend the review and urge critics to not “over-interpret” the move.
“The current US Department of Defense review of AUKUS is well within its remit and not unlike the strategic assessment recently conducted by the new UK Government following the election of Prime Minister Starmer,” he wrote.
“This is a departmental review, not a policy decision, and should not be over-interpreted.”
Mr Morrison, one of the original architects of the security pact, said it was a good opportunity for “Australia to make the case again”.
“We have a good case to make in both our own interests and those of our AUKUS partners, especially the US.”
All or nothing’ submarine deal
Australia’s former US ambassador Joe Hockey said Australia’s defence spending is likely being used by Washington as an excuse to launch a review into the AUKUS pact.
Speaking with ABC’s Radio National Breakfast, Joe Hockey said the deal was “all or nothing”.
“If we don’t get the Virginia Class submarines in 2032, we have no options left. We have no submarines,” he said.
“So this is all or nothing for Australia. And for the sake of our national security, we need to make sure that we can at least provide some deterrent for potential hostile threats to our nations.”
“We have something to trade on AUKUS. Not only are we paying for our submarines, not only have we paid forward with a $500m check but an Australian company that most people have never heard of, called Austal, is actually helping build the AUKUS submarines … so not only are we paying for them, we’re helping to build them.
“That’s the sort of trade that Donald Trump would not be aware of”.
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Defence Minister Richard Marles reacts to AUKUS news
Defence Minister Richard Marles has broken his silence on US moves to review the AUKUS security pact insisting the US and Australia remained committed to the deal.
“The United States advised Australia and the UK of the review,’’ he said on Thursday morning.
“It is natural that the Administration would want to examine this major undertaking including progress and delivery, just as the UK Government recently concluded an AUKUS review and reaffirmed its support including through the appointment of Sir Stephen Lovegrove as its AUKUS Adviser.
“All three countries are committed to ensuring AUKUS meets national and trilateral objectives.
“Importantly, AUKUS will grow both the US and Australian defence industry as well as generating thousands of new manufacturing jobs.
“There is bipartisan support in the United States with the passage of important provisions in the National Defence Authorization Act in 2023 to enable the transfer of US Virginia class submarines to Australia, and to enable Australians to work on maintenance activities of US Virginia class submarines.”
“Our engagement with the Trump Administration and across the full political spectrum in the United States has shown clear and consistent support for AUKUS.
“We look forward to continuing our close co-operation with the Trump Administration on this historic project.”
The Prime Minister discussed the AUKUS deal in a phone call with President Trump on February 11 and as recently as May 5.
The Deputy Prime Minister also discussed AUKUS with Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth May 30, just 12 days ago.
‘Catastrophic’ move
A former top advisor to US President Donald Trump has warned that cancelling the AUKUS pact would be “catastrophic”.
John Bolton, who served as President Trump’s national security advisor, told Nine the review is likely aimed at scaling back AUKUS, or abandoning the pact altogether.
“It’s more a question of how much of a downsize (of AUKUS) they are looking at, including potentially total cancellation — which would be catastrophic, a huge mistake for the US with enormous consequences for Australia and the UK.”
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen warned that Beijing would be cheering at the news.
“News that the Trump Administration is considering backing away from AUKUS will be met with cheers in Beijing, which is already celebrating America’s global pullback and our strained ties with allies under President Trump,” Senator Shaheen said.
“Scrapping this partnership would further tarnish America’s reputation and raise more questions among our closest defence partners and our reliability.”
In a statement, the Pentagon confirmed the review was aimed at ensuring AUKUS served the best interests of the United States.
“The Department is reviewing AUKUS as part of ensuring that this initiative of the previous Administration is aligned with the President’s America First agenda,” the statement said.
“As (Defence) Secretary (Pete) Hegseth has made clear, this means ensuring the highest readiness of our servicemembers, that allies step up fully to do their part for collective defence, and that the defence industrial base is meeting our needs,” the Pentagon said.
“This review will ensure the initiative meets these common sense, America First criteria.”
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