Media Alert
Australia’s independent, crowdfunded Public Inquiry into AUKUS concludes its public hearings today in Canberra, with presentations from Andrew Wilkie, the Hon Kim Beazley AC, Dr Michael Keating, Jon Stanford and Dr Emma Shortis amongst many others.
A huge number of Australians – including a Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers, senior academics and military experts, community groups and citizens – have presented to the Inquiry across 10 day-long hearings in 8 cities around Australia over the last 12 weeks.
Up to 1,500 people a day have watched the live-streams of proceedings.
Over 800 written submissions have been received.
$200,000 has been raised by crowdfunding, from other individual donors and from civil society organisations, in order to hold the inquiry.
AUKUS Public Inquiry Lead Commissioner Peter Garrett said today that the public hearings have been an extraordinary exercise in real world democracy.
“Everyone associated with the Inquiry has found this process of community outreach and participatory democracy genuinely inspiring.
“It has been many years since Australia has seen something like this.
“The inquiry has asked many questions that the public desperately need answers to, particularly the most pressing one: will AUKUS actually keep us safe and at what cost?”
The Commissioners will draft a comprehensive report which will be presented at the National Press Club in early November.
Livestream of today’s proceeding here
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It will be interesting to see what Kim Beazley has to say.
When Minister for Defence he gave a very good impersonation of someone totally embedded in the US defence Establishment.
He was not known as “Bomber Beazley” for nothing.
Having said that, age can bring wisdom.
We can only hope.
I know a few ex-service people and a few more in current service, and almost to a person they say that AUKUs is a waste of money or that they are yet to be convinced.
Surely when your own people are doubtful, there should be some more high-up scrutiny?