By Denis Bright
The ABC’s Four Corners Programme (16 June 2025) warned of the uncertain future for the AUKUS submarine deal. Already $13 billion has been squandered to fast track the construction of nuclear-powered attack submarine construction in combined allocations to both Britain and the US according to estimates presented by Four Corners.
Readers who missed the Four Corner’s programme can easily watch this production through iView.
It is important for Labor’s new faces in Canberra to join with progressive members of the crossbench to question every aspect of a strategic deal whose origins are still shrouded in mystery prior to the official announcement on September 2021 in a joint statement by Scott Morrison with both DFAT and Defence Ministers. Every defence and intelligence parliamentary committee hearing can extract more details of the AUKUS debacle which is supported on both sides of the parliamentary aisles.
The complex arrangements were made in secret by a cabal of four LNP ministers including Baraby Joyce who replaced Michael McCormack on 22 June 2021. The cabinet was not consulted until after the shock and awe announcement. The insider team expected to be back in government in 2022 on the false anticipation that Labor would oppose AUKUS to permit a khaki election on defence and security issues.
Corporate military industrial complexes (MICs) were already deeply embedded in Australian defence installations. In the case of MICs based in the USA, Australia was a familiar precinct. The proposed expenditure of almost $400 billion on AUKUS was going to be another walk in the park with a gullible LNP government here.
From Lockheed Martin to Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies (now RTX) to General Dynamics and others, there was routine involvement in the operations of Pine Gap, Joint Facilities at the largest RAAF Bases, HMAS Stirling near Perth and the Delamere Air Weapons Range in the NT.
Ironically, lobbying by these corporate giants is better reported in the US itself. Financial support from the MICs is welcomed on both sides of politics. Elevated leaders depend on this funding which diverts resources from education, healthcare, infrastructure and action on climate change. Australian leaders have a more subterranean relationship with the MICs. The Open Secrets site summarizes the details of the political outreach of the US.
Avoiding the doubts expressed in the ABC’s Four Corners Programme, the Australian Navy is still confident about the prospects for the AUKUS deal (Press release from the Australian Navy):
The AUKUS conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine pathway will deliver Australia a world-class capability that will see the nation become one of only seven countries that operate nuclear-powered submarines.
The pathway delivers significant long-term strategic benefits for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It strengthens the combined industrial capacity of the three AUKUS partners, with increased cooperation making trilateral supply chains more robust and resilient.
In March 2023, Australia, together with AUKUS partners, the United Kingdom and the United States, announced the Optimal Pathway to deliver a conventionally-armed nuclear-powered submarine capability for Australia.
Key features include:
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- A range of opportunities for Australian personnel to work with and learn from UK and US Navies including increased visits to Australian ports by the UK Royal Navy and US Navy nuclear-powered submarines.
- Increased forward presence of Royal Navy and US Navy nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, to assist in developing knowledge and industrial capabilities.
- The delivery of three Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy from as soon as the early 2030s, with the potential to acquire up to two more if needed.
- The development, construction and delivery for the Royal Australian Navy of an advanced, nuclear-powered submarine called ‘SSN-AUKUS,’ incorporating Australian, UK and US technologies.
Such confidence is routinely repeated in sections of the mainstream press, talkback radio and commercial current affairs programmes on television.
Turning the clock back to the pre-1914 era, similar xenophobic reporting against the rise of Germany as a European superpower paved the way for the bloodbath on the Western Front. The shockwaves from the Treaty of Versailles after hostilities ceased are still evident in the Middle East today when Britain, Italy and France were allocated sections of the dismantled Ottoman Empire. Persia (now Iran) became a British protectorate when it preferred a more neutral role in global affairs.
Today’s China wishes to diversify its economy as the second global superpower. Diplomatic initiatives between Australia and China with the support of ASEAN countries should avoid the financial excesses of the current AUKUS deal. The AUKUS programme is an appalling cost to the Australian economy. Its real beneficiaries are the US and Britain where arms exports to old and new global troublespots have humanity on the brink of global warfare.
Readers can stay ahead of the news headlines by anticipating the release of the World Investment Report on 19 June by UNCTAD, the UN’s development agency.
One dark version of the future in telegraphed in the banner headlines of The Australian which unequivocally welcomes the Israeli attacks on Gaza and Iran.
The annual UN Trade and Investment Report shows that another world is possible as developing countries move out of their former poverty with a breathing space from Cold War defence spending.
The AUKUS deal will bring our northern neighbours and the Pacific Region into a new arms race. In the rhetoric of both Paul Keating and Malcolm Turnbull, this is a very dumb deal that brings Australia back into the storms of former regional militarism of the Vietnam War era, greater reliance on the US and Britain as sources of much needed investment capital and more recently pressure from the Trump administration to raise our defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP as an interim measure.
While Australian Streets Remain Quiet: LA Protesters Face the National Guard and Regular Troops:
Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building in these difficult times. Your feedback from readers advances the cause of citizens’ journalism. Full names are not required when making comments. However, a valid email must be submitted if you decide to hit the Replies Button.
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The Murdoch press was Gun Ho today anticipating preparations for conflict with China: Definitely 1914 revisited as Denis article mentioned.