Peter Dutton questions Labor’s commitment to AUKUS

Peter Dutton fears Labor might be crab walking away from parts of the pact as he rejects Richard Marles’ Pacific declaration.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says China’s cyber warfare capabilities have reached a point where Beijing could shut down critical infrastructure throughout the developed world. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Tracey Nearmy

Peter Dutton said he feared Labor might be crab walking away from parts of the AUKUS security pact as he rejected Defence Minister Richard Marles’ declaration that climate change was the greatest threat to the Pacific.

The Opposition Leader, a former defence minister in the Morrison government, also said Labor would need to make provisions for Australia’s defence spending to go “well north” of 2 per cent of GDP, otherwise “all the rhetoric we’re hearing from the government wouldn’t be matched by action”.

“I hear the words of commitment from the government to AUKUS but I don’t yet see them put into action, they seem to be making a lot of excuses,” he told The Australian, referring to the nuclear submarine component of AUKUS which is expected to cost well over $100bn.

Mr Dutton, who said the government was on track to have new submarines “well before the 2040s”, was speaking on the sidelines of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue in Washington, where he and Mr Marles, who was separately wrapping up a four-day trip to Washington, were among the high-profile attendees.

He said the October budget would be a key test of the government’s resolve to follow through with the spirit and text of the AUKUS agreement with the US and UK, which provided 18 months from September for the to work out how Australia could acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines. The cost, timeline and manufacturing details, including location, remain unknown.

As he headed for the airport Mr Marles, who had earlier met US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, said the process to acquire the submarines was “on track”, a day after suggesting the first submarine might not arrive until the 2040s owing to the “mess” the Coalition had left.

“We are looking at announcing in the first quarter of next year what sub we are pursuing and when we will be able to have one in the water,” Mr Marles said, after earlier suggesting cost would be a critical factor in the final decision.

Amid speculation from Australian Strategic Policy Institute that they could cost in excess of $170 billion, Mr Marles, who has backed a defence spending target of 2 per cent of GDP, had said it was a “completely reasonable question” to ask whether the submarines might be too expensive.

“If the government’s unable to take up what was a gift pass then they have many questions to answer, the process was well underway,” Mr Dutton said in an interview on Thursday (Friday AEST), also taking issue with Mr Marles’ claim that climate change was a bigger “existential” threat to the Pacific than China.

“It’s a very significant consideration for Pacific island nations and we respect that, but the bigger threat is the prospect of China basing military assets in the Indo-Pacific. That would be catastrophic for the security of our nation and the region,” he said.

Their comments came as the government, which has ruled out nuclear energy to produce electricity, seeks to legislate a 43 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 amid surging inflation and energy prices throughout the developed world.

“To lock us into a position that’s legislated I think shows a reckless disregard for cost of living pressure and management of the Australian economy,” Mr Dutton said, urging the government to consider nuclear energy, which remains outlawed in Australia under a 1998 law.

“We’re very keen to have a discussion on nuclear energy (for electricity) and it seems inconceivable to me you can’t be allowed to talk about small modular reactors when you are hearing from Germany, France, the UK that they can’t meet their emissions targets without the blended mix of nuclear”.

Mr Dutton said also China’s cyber warfare capabilities had reached a point where Beijing could shut down critical infrastructure throughout the developed world, including in Australia.

“Short of kinetic strike China could impose significant economic costs, sow political discontent … it’s a question in my mind of when, not if,” he said, stressing the mounting threat China posed in the Indo-Pacific.

“China continues to amass nuclear weapons, and is producing more on a tonnage basis out of their navy every 18 months than Australia has in her entire fleet”.

In his speech on Tuesday Mr Marles promised to boost the power of Australia’s military to avoid a “catastrophic failure of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific, and undertook to play a more active role in repelling Chinese influence in the Pacific, where China has sought to grow its economic and security alliances with small island nations.