‘Where’s nuclear submarines money coming from?’ asks Andrew Hastie

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has challenged the federal government to reveal how the nation will pay for its future nuclear submarines.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has challenged the federal government to reveal how the nation will pay for its future nuclear submarines, saying Labor must not fund the program through Defence budget cuts.

Amid growing criticism of the plan on Labor’s left, Mr Hastie said the Coalition would support the AUKUS plan, the brainchild of Scott Morrison, “come hell or high-water … but we are an opposition, and we do have questions about AUKUS, especially (about) how it will be funded.”

Mr Hastie called on the government to have “a frank and honest conversation” about where the money would come from, and warned it not to “cannibalise” other areas of the Defence budget. “This will be the largest capability acquisition that Australia has embarked on, but the Deputy Prime Minister has not addressed the cost of the project.”

The government has said taxpayers will pay $58bn towards the submarine program over the next 10 years, with $24bn coming from money allocated to the now-cancelled French Attack-class boats.

Mr Hastie asked where the remaining $34bn would come from. “Will the Albanese government cannibalise the army or air force or navy or ASD to pay for AUKUS? These are vital questions. We need answers.”

He also revealed details of his own former career as an SAS assault swimmer, saying the promised Virginia-class submarines to be delivered from 2030 would deliver a “massive uplift” to the nation’s special forces capabilities.

He said he had conducted multi-swimmer release exercises from the Collins-class submarine, which he described as a “makeshift and risky” operation.

The Virginia-class subs have a nine-person airlock to allow covert special forces insertions.

“The Virginia-class submarine resolves this special operations insertion/extraction challenge and I’m excited about this step up in capability,” he said.

Earlier, Defence Minister Richard Marles moved to address criticism of the AUKUS subs deal, saying the promised nuclear boats were needed to protect the nation’s maritime trade and would be sovereign vessels as soon as they carried the Australian flag.

In a special statement to parliament, Mr Marles also addressed concerns over the cost of the deal, including a looming investment by Australia in the US submarine industry, which he said would be dwarfed by investment in Australia’s own industrial base.

The statement followed Paul Keating’s critique of the subs deal last week, which prompted a number of other Labor figures to criticise the plan.

Mr Marles said the parliament could be assured the Albanese government had adopted “a methodical, phased approach that will build our capacity as a nation” to safely build, maintain and operate nuclear -powered submarines.

“Australia’s next-generation submarines will be Australian sovereign assets, commanded by Australian officers, under the sovereign control of Australia.

“And they will be built by Australian workers in South Australia,” he said.

Mr Marles said the provision of at least three Virginia-class submarines to Australia from the early 2030s – before Australia builds its own AUKUS-class subs with British and US support – was “an unprecedented contribution to our defence capability by our US ally”.

He said the government’s agreed investment in US submarine production and sustainment – worth about $3bn – was needed to “facilitate” the early delivery of the Virginia-class boats.

“However, the amount we invest in our own industrial base will far exceed this number, both over the forward estimates and through the life of the program,” he said.