Australia and UK announce new 50-year AUKUS deal amid US submarine review

Australia and the UK have reached agreement on a 50-year AUKUS pledge, despite the thunder clouds presented by a US-led review into the sub deal.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Friday. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

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Australia and the UK have reached agreement on a 50-year AUKUS pledge sold as the greatest military leap since the establishment of the navy, despite the thunder clouds presented by a US-led review into the submarine deal.

Senior politicians of both nations on Friday also emphasised geostrategic ties between Indo-Pacific law and order and the conflict in Ukraine, at a key diplomatic meeting between Defence Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, and their British counterparts.

The absence of delegates for the third AUKUS partner, the US, loomed large over the proceedings, with Australia under American pressure to raise defence spending after Anthony Albanese’s failure to score a face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Mr Marles and Senator Wong, joined by UK Defence Secretary John Healey and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, on Friday announced the new 50-year AUKUS treaty to be signed on ­Saturday in Geelong.

It would “underpin … the biggest industrial endeavour that our nation has ever seen”, Mr Marles said on Friday.

“It will give rise to the biggest leap in military capability that our nation has had since, frankly, the establishment of the navy back in 1913,” he said from the lawn of ­Admiralty House.

“It is a profoundly important treaty that we will sign tomorrow. It forms part of a trilateral agreement that we have, and we are really confident about the progress of all three countries in bringing that to fruition.”

From left, Senator Wong, Mr Lammy, Anthony Albanese, UK Defence Secretary John Healey and Defence Minister Richard Marles. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Both Mr Marles and Mr Healy were at pains to emphasise the treaty would be an action plan for delivering on the August 2024 AUKUS treaty signed in Washington, rather than a bilateral shift away from the US to shore up the agreement under the uncertainty of the Trump administration.

The meeting comes as part of the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations, or AUKMIN, and is the second joint delegation since the election of the Starmer government in 2024.

The meeting follows Britain sending a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, the Prince of Wales, and its ­accompanying fleet to Darwin this week in what is the first such visit in nearly 30 years.

Operation High Mast was launched in April in a sign of Britain’s intention to ramp up its presence in the Indo-Pacific, as questions are raised over China’s intention to reunify Taiwan in coming years and tension between Beijing and the US continues.

It will be folded into the ongoing training exercise Operation Talisman Sabre, in which 3000 UK personnel will take part.

The show of strength comes alongside remarks from Mr Healey emphasising the UK’s capacity to be an authority in the Indo-Pacific without pulling its attention from the war in Ukraine, saying the “productive day of diplomacy” ensured the two military theatres would be viewed together.

“Today we’re here to strengthen the security of the Euro-Atlantic (and) the security in the Indo-Pacific. Because the security between the two regions is indivisible,” he said. “The security of both our countries starts in Ukraine.

“We may be in Sydney, 9000 miles from Kyiv, but the signal today that we send is Australia and the UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, because while those aiding Russia – providing drones, supplying technology, deploying troops into the frontline – may be focused on Ukraine today, they could turn their sights to the Indo-Pacific next.”

Mr Lammy went further in pointing to “concerning activity in the South China Sea”.

“The UK-Australia relationship is an anchor in what is a very volatile world, providing stability in troubled waters and a relationship that holds steady, whichever way the geopolitical winds are blowing,” he said.

“We believe in the rules-based order. We believe in the laws and rules of the sea. We also see … the partnership between the DPRK (North Korea) and Russia in Ukraine that remind us of the indivisibility of these two arenas.”

In a strategy similar to that of the Australian government, the UK has sought to play down the significance of the US review, led by Elbridge Colby, into the AUKUS deal that includes the sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, claiming the review was understandable given the change in administration early this year

Mr Marles called it the “most natural thing in the world” while Mr Healey suggested it gave the US a chance to “renew America’s commitment”.

“We welcome it, because it will underline the benefits that it brings, not just to the three nations, but to the US in particular, and their concerns about China, their concerns about the Indo-­Pacific,” Mr Healey said.

“Any sort of hypotheticals that you suggest simply aren’t part of the picture. It’s a treaty that strengthens NATO as well as security in the Indo-Pacific. It’s a treaty that will outlast us as politicians, that will safeguard the security of our children, and our children’s children to come. So this is a historic day.”

Mr Healey, Mr Lammy, Mr Marles and Senator Wong will travel to Melbourne on Saturday before visiting Darwin.

Unlike Australia resisting US calls to drastically increase its defence spending as a share of GDP, Britain agreed to boost its defence and security spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 in line with most other NATO countries. This is compared with Australia’s projected target of spending 2.3 per cent of GDP.

Senator Wong said future UK-Australia talks would focus on critical mineral co-operation, climate financing in Southeast Asia, and Pacific cybersecurity.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy on Friday said Australia had made headway in missile co-development with the US, conducting its first test firing of a Precision Strike Missile.

“From delivering HIMARS ahead of schedule to delivering and testing PrSM ahead of schedule, the Albanese government is modernising the Australian Army at speed,” Mr Conroy said.