Nuclear weapons ‘not the answer’ to fading US shield, says Molan

Retired general and former senator Jim Molan says the nation had “never been in a more uncertain strategic environment”.

Former senator Jim Molan. Picture: Richard Dobson

Retired general and former senator Jim Molan has backed the key finding in a new book — that Australia can no longer rely on the US to defend it — saying the nation had “never been in a more uncertain strategic environment”.

However, Major General Molan said ANU professor Hugh White’s call for the government to tear up billions of dollars worth of defence contracts and look at ­acquiring nuclear weapons was premature in the absence of a new national defence strategy.

In The Australian yesterday, new US ambassador Arthur Culvahouse said the US would “absolutely” defend Australia against a foreign attacker, declaring the ANZUS alliance was a “solemn and unbreakable” bond.

But Professor White, in his book How to Defend Australia, says as China becomes the dominant power in Asia, the alliance will “weaken, and quite possibly disappear”.

He says Australia should focus on self-defence, scrap a $50 billion contract for 12 submarines in favour of 24 smaller boats; axe an order for eight Hunter-class frigates; and lift the ­defence budget to 3.5 per cent of GDP.

General Molan said China’s behaviour in the region was ­“assertive if not aggressive”, and agreed the US could no longer be relied on to protect Australia.

“The US is confused in its ­intent and no longer has the military power to defend allies like Australia. Of course we need to do more for ourselves,” he said.

However, he said Professor White had “rushed too fast to a tactical solution”. “The most important deficiency is not, in the first place, nukes or subs. It is a national security strategy,” he said.

Both sides of politics yesterday affirmed the centrality of the US alliance to Australia’s defence, rejecting the ANU professor’s argument that the ANZUS alliance will weaken. “The ANZUS ­alliance … is ­absolutely essential to Australia’s security,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the alliance was “an enduring pillar of Australian foreign policy”.

The government and Labor also rejected Professor White’s finding that Australia should think about obtaining nuclear weapons. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said: “Australia stands by its non-proliferation treaty pledge … not to acquire or develop ­nuclear weapons.”

National Security College head Rory Medcalf said the Trump administration was “showing plenty of dysfunction”, but strategic competition with China was now bipartisan policy in Washington. “It’s hard to see how the US can compete with China without being present in the Indo-Pacific. So it is a strange time to predict the withdrawal of the US from the region,” he said.