AUKUS: Solomon MP Luke Gosling backs nuclear powered submarines for Australian Defence Force

Solomon MP Luke Gosling has doubled down on his support for AUKUS, arguing nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) are vital if Australia intends to deter its potential adversaries.

Solomon MP Luke Gosling has written a paper in support Australia’s AUKUS submarine program. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Territorian MP Luke Gosling has doubled down on his support for AUKUS, arguing nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) are vital if Australia intends to deter its potential adversaries.

This week, the Lowy Institute released Mr Gosling’s paper Deterring at a Distance: The Strategic Logic of AUKUS, which revealed the Solomon MP’s personal views relating to SSNs.

Mr Gosling argued SSNs would be central in defending Australia in the event of an attack and said acquiring the boat killers would support the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region, describing the sub-surface vessels as “optimal deterrence machines”.

The 22-page paper, which draws heavily upon the Defence Strategic Review, also suggested future governments should consider building more SSNs continuously from the 2050s.

Luke Gosling at the Darwin's 5th Battalion after their return from Operation Kudu at the press conference in Robertson Barracks, Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“SSNs are overwhelmingly in Australia’s interest because they strengthen the country’s ability to deter war by threatening painful consequences for aggression against Australia, its partners, and its interests,” he said.

“The 2023 Defence Strategic Review explicitly tasks the Australian Defence Force with a deterrence role against a significant military power – a relatively new mission.”

A former Australian Army infantry officer, Mr Gosling maintained that improved submarine capability would support military vessels in the maritime domain.

“Take a case of which Australians can be rightly proud: the ADF’s intervention in Timor-Leste in 1999 to support its transition to independence – transferring troops a short hop from my home of Darwin was not without dangers, but the submarine threat was much more benign than it is today,” he said.

Mr Gosling said there was no realistic alternative to AUKUS in defending Australia.

“It is an open question whether, in a similar crisis, the ADF could again risk putting a thousand troops on HMAS Canberra without adequate submarine escort, so high priority a target it would present.”

Mr Gosling conceded the AUKUS program, projected to cost up to $368 billion, was a significant commitment.

“It is undeniably true that, for the cost of eight SSNs, Australia could buy fifty B-21s, seventy Hunter-class frigates, a thousand more F-35s, or could divert that money into any pressing domestic portfolio,” he said.

“The price tag is a real challenge that defenders of AUKUS will need to convincingly justify for decades.”

Mr Gosling maintained the cost was justified by the capability SSNs offered, however, and said the government had positive control of the financial challenge.

“AUKUS is not only affordable, it is already partly budgeted – the Albanese government has begun to fund SSNs by investing $9 billion over the forward estimates and a projected $58 billion until 2033, $24 billion of that offset by not buying French submarines,” he said.

“AUKUS will cost less than 10 per cent of the defence budget – the argument that it is gutting funding from the rest of the ADF is spurious.”

To illustrate the warfighting capabilities of the Indo-Pacific’s more prominent militaries, the paper presented tables which contrasted China’s warfighting assets to the United States.

The paper, which mentions China almost 20 times, showed Beijing had 72 submarines at its disposal compared to Australia’s six.

In conclusion, Mr Gosling said there was no realistic alternative to AUKUS in defending Australia.

“The real choice Australia faces is not between AUKUS and a fictional other submarine or futuristic autonomous drone swarms, but between the success of the AUKUS plan and its failure.”