ALP defends diversity drive: it won’t sink AUKUS submarines agreement

The Albanese government says it won’t allow Donald Trump’s ‘war on wokeness’ to undermine its diversity and inclusion agenda.

US President Donald Trump and his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth attend a cabinet meeting at the White House. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

The Albanese government says it won’t allow Donald Trump’s “war on wokeness” to undermine its diversity and inclusion agenda, including at the agency charged with securing at least three Virginia-class submarines from the US.

Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher has backed the Australian Submarine Agency’s diversity policy, amid concerns the Trump administration could take issue with its mandating of diversity “champions” and training, and regular diversity and inclusion activities.

The US President banished “radical and wasteful” diversity, equity and inclusion programs from US government agencies and their major contractors in his first days back in office.

With his controversial Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth expected to visit Australia for AUSMIN talks in coming months, some analysts believe the administration’s anti-DEI crusade could become a further point of bilateral tension on top of differences over tariffs and the behaviour of big tech ­companies.

The concerns emerged as Australian universities reeled at the loss of US grants after refusing to align with Mr Trump’s political agenda, including his anti-­transgender executive order recognising only two sexes.

US defence giants with Australian subsidiaries, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing, have already axed their DEI policies at home and are waiting to see if they will be required to do so in their international operations, which could place them in conflict with Australian government policies.

Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher shakes hands with Governor-General Sam Mostyn following her swearing-in at Government House last week. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The ASA’s diversity and ­inclusion policy requires the ­appointment of senior leaders as “diversity champions focused on the culturally and linguistically ­diverse (CALD); lesbian, gay, ­bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+); neurodiversity; First Nations; disability and mental health; and women and gender”.

It commits the agency to “a range of diversity and inclusion activities”, including a “trans and gender diverse introduction webinar”, R U OK? Day morning teas, and virtual and in-person events for International Women’s Day.

The ASA is a member of the Diversity Council of Australia and the Pride in Diversity employer support group, and uses their tools and services to guide best practice initiatives, the policy says.

The Defence Department’s ­diversity policy is even more ­prescriptive, requiring enterprise-wide “culture statements setting clear expectations of behaviour”, and the completion of a range of online courses on subjects such as “unconscious bias and cultural awareness”.

Senator Gallagher, who is also Minister for Women, said Labor’s election win over Peter Dutton’s Coalition, which took some ­inspiration from Mr Trump and his policies, underscored the ­community’s support for ensuring a diverse and inclusive public service. “The Australian Public Service operates best when it reflects the community it exists to serve,” she said.

“The Australian people voted at this election to comprehensively reject a Coalition platform that was built on the politics of division and imported policies from overseas. Labor will continue to govern in the interests of all Australians.”

The ASA, with is forecast to ­expand its workforce to more than 880 this year, is leading Australia’s negotiations with the US government to purchase three to five ­Virginia-class submarines under the $368bn AUKUS plan.

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the White House’s Oval Office. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

An ASA spokesman said ­recruiting the most capable and qualified people was “integral to the success of AUKUS”.

“To grow the ASA workforce and achieve the generational uplift in capabilities required to deliver Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines, the ASA needs to ­appeal to the broadest spectrum of the Australian population,” the spokesman said.

Former Defence deputy secretary Peter Jennings said the public service was already highly inclusive, with more women than men in many cases, and its diversity policies were “searching for a problem where one doesn’t exist”.

He said the policies should not affect the Australia-US defence relationship, but there was a risk the Trump administration could find fault with them.

“It will come down to whether the Republicans want to make a problem where none really exists in terms of the impact – positive or negative – on the alliance relationship,” said Mr Jennings, director of Strategic Analysis Australia.

“And maybe they will, because there’s an element of feistiness in terms of how the Republicans are going about it.”

United States’ Studies Centre defence analyst Peter Dean, said Mr Trump’s DEI agenda was a domestic issue for the US that should not affect Australia. But he conceded “Trump is unpredictable on these issues”.

The Institute of Public Affairs, whose views are shared by many Coalition conservatives, accused the ASA of pursuing a “woke ideology that has no place in our national defence”.

IPA deputy executive director Daniel Wild said: “With hostility rising in the Asia-Pacific region, the federal government continues to show reckless indifference towards the US administration.

“The ASA’s woke DEI policy is further evidence of this.”

DEI policies in the US have been linked to the nation’s fierce cultural battle over identity politics – one of the touchstones of Mr Trump’s MAGA movement.

They included measures to _enforce diversity in hiring practices, mandatory training courses and policies to redress gender pay imbalances.

In a January 20 executive order, Mr Trump said DEI programs had “demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination”.

A day later, he extended the DEI ban to federal contractors, preventing them from promoting workplace diversity of affirmative action programs under the threat of losing government work.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for a National Day of Prayer event in the White House’s Rose Garden on May 1. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Mr Hegseth, who has come under fire for sharing classified information on the Signal app, has waged war on DEI in the Pentagon and military branches since his confirmation, vowing to restore a “warrior culture” to the nation’s military services.

He escalated his anti-DEI ­crusade this month by banning books on racism and sexism from military academies and ­commands.

“Everything starts and ends with warriors in training and on the battlefield,” Mr Hegseth told the Army War college in a recent speech. “We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind and refocusing on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness.”

In Australia, the Coalition was emboldened by the Trump administration’s position, with Mr Dutton attacking DEI policies ahead of the election as another form of “bureaucratic red tape” that was causing the public service to balloon unnecessarily.

His then-defence spokesman Andrew Hastie also railed against DEI, refusing during the election campaign to walk away from his past views that women should not serve in combat in an unwanted distraction for the Coalition as it tried to sell its defence policy.