Labor conference: ALP armed for keeping China at arm’s length
Senior Labor ministers have warned that China will have 21 nuclear submarines and 200 major warships by 2030, sparking an urgent need to deliver AUKUS subs and defence technologies.
Senior Labor ministers have warned that China will have 21 nuclear submarines and 200 major warships in the water by 2030, sparking an urgent need to deliver AUKUS submarines and defence technologies to prevent war in the Indo-Pacific.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy on Friday urged union and party delegates to back the “progressive” AUKUS defence pact, to help “prevent war” and protect Australians amid Beijing’s aggressive military build-up and rising US-China tensions.
“Strength deters war,” Mr Conroy said.
In an extraordinary slap down of anti-AUKUS elements inside the Australian Labor Party, the Left-faction powerbroker delivered a scathing attack on those who supported a “Robert Menzies appeasement” strategy.
Mr Conroy’s claim that anti-AUKUS delegates were appeasers sparked an angry backlash from Left-faction union leaders and colleagues, including federal Labor MP Josh Wilson who labelled the minister’s claim as “absurd”.
Mr Conroy and Defence Minister Richard Marles led the government’s assault against Left-wing unions and delegates who failed to win the backing needed to remove AUKUS from the ALP platform and extract “nuclear” when referring to Australia’s future submarine fleet.
Anthony Albanese – who on Saturday will rally support for the Indigenous voice at the 49th ALP national conference in Brisbane – joined his defence ministers to argue in favour of the AUKUS defence pact secured by Scott Morrison in 2021 and progressed by Labor in government.
“A bright future calls for more than sunny optimism,” he said.
“We have to analyse the world as it is, rather than as we would want it to be. We have to bring our defence capabilities up to speed and AUKUS is central to that.”
The Prime Minister declared that the partnership with two of Australia’s oldest friends – the UK and US – through the AUKUS pact was “consistent with the Labor values that I have been a part of my whole life”.
In contrast to Mr Conroy’s rhetoric, Mr Albanese said the government was “working towards stabilisation” with China.
“Having adult conversations between us; co-operating where we can, disagreeing where we must, but engaging in our national interest: that’s how serious people who are seriously concerned about Australia’s national interest and understanding the importance of diplomatic engagement are operating,” he said.
Mr Conroy, a factional ally of Mr Albanese and a former AMWU and CFMEU official, said that as “a middle power”, it was against Australia’s interest to have “one power dominate our region, especially one that breaches international laws”.
The Shortland MP, who was heckled by ALP delegates over the $268bn-$368bn cost of the submarines and accused of taking Australia “into war”, said AUKUS was a “progressive” policy that would deter conflict and “protect our people by having strong defence capabilities on our own”.
“The central question for delegates here is how to prevent war … The truth is, strength deters war … Appeasement invites conflict,“ Mr Conroy said.
“Delegates, do you want to be on the side of John Curtin or do you want to be on the side of pig-ironed Robert Menzies? That is the question here. Some people claim AUKUS will start a regional arms race. Well, they’re grievously out of touch because I’m here to tell you that arms race is already happening before our very eyes.
“If you’re pro-human rights, you need to be pro-AUKUS. If you’re pro-peace, you need to be pro-AUKUS. If you’re pro-advanced manufacturing, you need to be pro-AUKUS … this is in the national interest.”
Mr Marles, who led negotiations with key Electrical Trades Union, AMWU, CFMEU and AWU officials, highlighted China’s military build-up to advocate in support of the AUKUS pact.
“We are witnessing the single biggest conventional military build-up in the world since the end of the Second World War,” Mr Marles said. “In the year 2000, China had six nuclear-powered submarines. By the end of this decade, they will have 21. In the year 2000, China had 57 major warships.
“By the end of this decade, they will have 200. Now these are not our decisions. These are not our choices. But this is the world in which we live. And it is our unavoidable obligation to navigate our way through it.”
Mr Conroy’s claim that anti-AUKUS delegates were appeasers sparked an angry backlash from Left-faction union leaders and colleagues, including federal Labor MP Josh Wilson, who labelled the minister as “absurd”.
Mr Wilson, a prominent Left-faction figure who is under pressure from the Greens in his Fremantle electorate, supported the ETU’s unsuccessful amendment to remove “nuclear” from the government’s 32-paragraph AUKUS statement included in the ALP platform.
The WA Labor MP, who has previously raised concerns about AUKUS with senior government figures, broke caucus solidarity ranks to speak out against the tripartite nuclear submarine pact and attack Mr Conroy’s “ridiculous” claim about appeasement.
Mr Wilson, who was granted permission to speak by Mr Albanese, said the decision to purchase submarines was “not justified and involves too many risks”.
The warning about China’s militarisation came after the ALP conference endorsed a lengthy critique of Beijing’s human rights record in the final policy platform, ahead of Mr Albanese’s expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi next month.
After Chinese authorities removed tariffs on Australian barley products, the Albanese government is working behind the scenes to ease trade restrictions on wine, beef and lobsters.
The ALP platform, which is being closely monitored by foreign government observers, says Labor “strongly condemns human rights violations against the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang and across China”.
The platform says Labor is “deeply concerned by reports of the erosion of educational, religious, cultural and linguistic rights and freedoms in Tibet” and the use of forced labour across China.
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