AUKUS alliance: ‘This is not our version of NATO’, says Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has rejected arguments that a new trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US represents a version of NATO.

Scott Morrison in Canberra on Thursday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Scott Morrison has rejected arguments that a new trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US represents a shift towards the adoption of a broader Indo-Pacific version of the NATO security pact.

The Prime Minister on Thursday provided a reassurance that Australia was not pursuing an ­arrangement that would seek to replicate article 5 in the NATO security pact that views an attack on one member as an attack on all.

“We are not pursuing those types of arrangements,” he said. “The ANZUS alliance and other partnerships and agreements, we believe, suit our security interests and have served us very well.”

The signing of the three-way AUKUS partnership is not a ­treaty but is aimed at deepening diplomatic, security and defence co-operation in the Indo-Pacific region. It will require greater information and technology sharing between its three member states.

Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating condemned the new arrangements, saying there was only one underlying objective: “The ability to act collectively in any military engagement by the US against China.”

Mr Keating said Australia would be robbed of “any freedom or choice” about future conflicts.

Mr Morrison rejected the criticism, framing the new arrangements as part of a “forever partnership” between the “oldest and most trusted of friends”.

Former Australian ambassador to Washington Dennis Richardson also hailed the security partnership as “groundbreaking”, saying it would be welcomed by the region.

Mr Richardson, a former ASIO chief who also headed up the departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade, said AUKUS was not equivalent to the sealing of a new security pact.

He said there was no momentum for any NATO style deal in the Indo-Pacific. “I think it would be inconsistent with the general philosophical approach taken by many countries across the ­region,” he said.

Mr Richardson said the new partnership represented a deepening of the relationship between the US, Britain and Australia around industry and technology assistance. “It wasn’t announced as a formal pact a la ANZUS,” he said. “I think beneath whatever public comments may be made, the region will by and large welcome this. There will obviously be some sensitivities involved.”

The first initiative under the AUKUS framework is the development of an Australian nuclear-powered submarine fleet. “(Joe) Biden and Morrison were right to stress that this was a nuclear-­powered sub, not a nuclear weapons submarine. That will be an important point to get across,” Mr Richardson said.

Executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Peter Jennings said it was “undeniable that this is about dealing with an authoritarian China”, and there was a chance a new formal multilateral security alliance in the region could emerge in coming years.

“The biggest strategic challenge of our age is the rise of a powerful authoritarian China,” he said.

“I think AUKUS is the response of consequential democracies to strengthen themselves in the face of that challenge,” he said.

“That could emerge into a new multilateral military-style alliance over time. But in our region it’s more likely that we could get a number of different groupings. So, AUKUS, the Quad and then perhaps some smaller ASEAN-­focused activities.”

Mr Richardson said the region would accept the new security partnership but there were “always some elements in Indonesia that are suspicious of Australia”.

“I think once it washes through the system, over time it will be understood,” he said.