AUKUS deal deserves the bipartisan support it enjoys
With full details of the AUKUS submarine deal still to be confirmed, there has nonetheless been a welcome bipartisan approach to the security arrangement that is sadly lacking from much of Australian political life. Conceived by Scott Morrison, the AUKUS pact – under which Australia will acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability in partnership with the US and the UK – has been skilfully negotiated by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles. This has been achieved in a rapid time frame that confirms the urgency of the task and the priority it has been given by all sides. The government has gone out of its way to acknowledge Mr Morrison’s role, and the Coalition has said it is in “lock-step” with Labor on delivering the project, which is seen as critical to ensuring Australia could defend its coastline amid deteriorating regional stability.
Australia’s outgoing ambassador to Washington, Arthur Sinodinos, said the relationship with the US was not based on “sentimentality” but rather on a very “strong and pragmatic” calculation about what is in our national interest.
Whatever disputes they may have, both sides of politics in Australia are keenly aware of what is at stake – including the cost of the submarine program, which is likely to stretch into the hundreds of billions of dollars, spread over several decades.
A formal announcement of the terms of the agreement will be made at a joint conference involving Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday (Australian time). Reports from the UK and the US suggest Australia will acquire several Virginia-class submarines from the US, possibly contributing to a new production line to ally fears about a shortage of capacity for the US’s own needs. A new sub will be designed in co-operation with the UK that will incorporate US technology to make it compatible with the American fleet, which may also include the new boats.
Details that have been made public so far have no doubt been calibrated to deal with some of the political considerations in each country. In the UK and Australia, these centre on jobs in construction and maintenance of a nuclear subs fleet. In the US, the concern has been that supplying subs to Australia would divert resources from domestic requirements. The deal that has been foreshadowed addresses all these points, and the speed with which the agreement has been reached underscores the urgent need seen by all parties to build defence and deterrent capacity in our region.
For Australia, it is a pragmatic outcome that will allow Australian personnel to work alongside those already in the business of building and maintaining nuclear-capable submarines that depend on a technological capacity we do not yet possess. Investing in expertise in the nuclear industry makes sense for reasons beyond defence.
The AUKUS agreement has got off to a refreshing bipartisan start. It must not be derailed by parochial arguments or political considerations, including jobs that would come from boosting shipbuilding capacity in South Australia, as has been the case in the past. Nor should it be derailed by concerns raised by former prime ministers Paul Keating and Malcolm Turnbull that working with our longest-standing and closest allies somehow is a risk to sovereignty. We must enter the AUKUS deal united as a nation and as partners with our allies, committed to peace and security in our region and prepared to defend the freedoms and liberties that define us.