Malcolm Turnbull Explains AUKUS: Why No Subs Will Come From It?
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull sunk any realistic hopes of AUKUS providing submarines before 2045 at his recent Press Club speech. Here was someone who knew what he was talking about, giving us the lowdown on the $368 billion deal with the Americans and Brits. Malcolm Turnbull explains AUKUS: Why no subs will come from it? It is written into the deal itself that if the US cannot make enough nuclear submarines of the designated class for their own requirements then no subs will be forthcoming for Australia. The Americans have not been meeting these requirements for many years now and there are no signs that this will change anytime soon. In fact, with projected retirements of older submarines in the US fleet things will be much worse in this regard. We will not get second hand Virginia class submarines from the US within the scheduled time frame.
AUKUS A White Elephant According To Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull explains AUKUS: Why no subs will come from it? The upshot of this is that with our rapidly ageing Collins class fleet of diesel electric submarines not expected to last the distance, therefore, we will be without any submarines if we do not do something about this. The Australian government seems to be in denial about this. It is as if the mere promise of shiny new submarines in the future is enough for these politicians, despite the fact that this future date may well be 30 plus years away. Defence seems to be 90% about public assurances and less than 10% about any real armaments and capabilities. Unfortunately, politics runs the show in Australia to such an extent that we end up with pie in the sky promises pretending to be actual defence capabilities. According to Mr Turnbull, the current AUKUS situation is a white elephant masquerading as something far more tangible.
Turnbull, Trump & The Unlikely Chances Of AUKUS Delivering Subs
Now, factor in the Donald Trump uncertainty card and you have an AUKUS deal, not only on the nose with the public, but with an unreliable ally at the centre of it. Trump’s America is ditching friends and allies like a wild bull at the rodeo. The America first principle has left everything else for dead. Turnbull emphasises that AUKUS is a really bad deal quite apart from Trump. The former PM insists that Australia should be standing on its own two feet rather than playing a bit part in an American anti-China strategy. Personally, I have been writing about our need to remain independent and to take a leaf out of our post WW2 defence and foreign policies. We have to be smart and invest in our own defence. We must become less reliant on America. This needs to become a priority.
Military Spending & Macro Corruption
Macro corruption is the kind of official malfeasance you get in developed Western nations like Australia and the US. We do not have the all too common low level corruption so prevalent in developing countries. Defence is particularly prone to macro corruption where the dollar figures involved are eye watering and the defence contractors call the shots in the US. Remember how Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex taking over.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
This was a Republican President and former top general who headed the Allied forces in WW2 warning us. Well, that warning was not heeded and we are where we are. Scott Morrison has latched onto the rich gravy train over there since he left parliament. AUKUS was a Morrison initiative after all and we the Australian people were not invited to discuss the whole nuclear submarine gambit, despite it flying in the face of 80 years of a non-nuclear policy downunder. A $368 billion deal, described by former PM Paul Keating as the worst deal in history for Australia. Yes, we get to contribute billions to the American shipyards and the British shipyards with no guarantee we will ever see a submarine out of it. What kind of deal is that – I ask you? One where the initiator is looked after with a multi-million dollar post politics career. This is how things are done in the defence sector. Grease the wheels and you get repaid with a motza of financial goodies.
Australia Needs to Face Facts
Quite apart from the generous rewards directed toward those that facilitate these deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the glaring ‘emperor with no clothes on’ reality is that Australia is going to be without strike capable submarines if we don’t take immediate remedial action to fill the hole our governments have dug for us. Hope is not a sensible plan. Facing up to the facts is required. Defending the nation on a promise, which is not going to eventuate is letting the side down. The data about the US naval situation is available via the Library of Congress, according to Mr Turnbull. Australia is being secretive about the facts but not the Americans in this instance. Malcolm Turnbull explains AUKUS: Why no subs will come from it?
Stop Playing Politics With Our National Security
There is way too much playing politics in Australia, with the tail wagging the dog. Both sides are so keen to wedge the other that what is actually at stake gets lost in the sport of it. AUKUS was never adequately debated by the nation; it was outrageously initiated by Morrison without proper consultation. Anthony Albanese went along with it because of the politics. He was fearful of a backlash at the time if he questioned it. This is no way to run a country.
Time To Relinquish AUKUS & Walk Away
It is time to ditch AUKUS and reassess our national security and defence goals. It is a new world, a post- US as reliable ally world. Friends and allies don’t treat us the way Trump is treating Australia. We cannot afford to have our security tied up with a madman and his chaotic regime. Betraying Ukraine for Putin’s Russia is a bridge too far. America threatening Greenland and Canada is no joke. The US undermining NATO is appalling behaviour and threatens global stability. Wake up Australia.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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