Don’t keep Australians in the dark on AUKUS
There are several reasons why the Pentagon should take this step and make public the non-classified recommendations and key findings of the review in collaboration with its AUKUS partners.
The most important reason is because transparency is better for AUKUS itself. Sunlight will help to secure public confidence and trust in the process – something which should not be taken for granted given the massive scale of the $368bn enterprise which will inevitably leave no part of Australian society untouched.
Second, this step will be central in holding the Albanese government accountable. It is already clear that some of the review’s findings, while aimed at ensuring the future success of the project, will be uncomfortable for Australia.
On some points, the review may be openly critical of how Australia has performed. If, for example, the AUKUS review has made recommendations asking Australia to step-up its game or meet key benchmarks – whether on defence spending or in other areas – making these conditions public will bind the Albanese government more strongly to the program’s timely delivery.
By contrast, keeping the findings confidential will only hand the Albanese government a leave pass from scrutiny and the full consequences of delays and missed deadlines.
Third, not releasing the findings leaves the Australian government in a compromised and untenable position. The evidence was on full display when Richard Marles was unable to answer a single question about what steps the Pentagon’s review had recommended to strengthen and improve AUKUS when he addressed the media in Washington.
This extended to whether the Australian government even agreed with the US findings or if they should be made public.
Yet Marles is right. It is not up to him nor the Albanese government to reveal the conclusions of a US-led review. The truth is that he has been put in an invidious position. His hands have been tied by the administration. Simply reaffirming Donald Trump’s political endorsement of AUKUS – the “full steam ahead” mantra – is no shield from legitimate questions relating to the implementation and delivery of such a game-changing capability.
Australia must, within agreed limits, be allowed to talk about the substance of the US review. A failure by the Trump administration to create this freedom for Australia will risk a backlash and entrench community frustration.
Fourth, Trump’s political endorsement of AUKUS should mean the Pentagon has greater freedom to frankly identify areas for improvement without this being misconstrued as an attempt to sink the scheme.
The caravan has moved on and AUKUS is now the only game in town.
Reality for ALP as coal will be needed until 2049
The Pentagon should release the key recommendations and findings of its AUKUS review this week at the defence ministers’ meeting between Pete Hegseth, Richard Marles and John Healey.