MEDIA RELEASE: 12 June 2025

Australia should welcome US decision to review AUKUS submarine deal

It is timely that the US is reviewing the AUKUS submarine deal, according to Major General Michael G Smith AO (R’etd), founding Board member of the Australian Peace and Security Forum (APSF). The US review follows close on the heels of the UK review of AUKUS by the Defence Committee of the UK House of Commons.

But, according to Smith, “it is even more important that Australia urgently conduct a parliamentary review of AUKUS, inviting full public consultation.” Smith contends that it is totally misleading of the Labor government and Coalition opposition to claim that AUKUS was reviewed as part of the 2024 National Defence Strategy.  AUKUS was conceived in secret without parliamentary nor public disclosure or consultation. Yet future AUKUS submarine bases, as well as existing US bases and so-called ‘joint facilities’, contribute to Australia unnecessarily becoming a military target in the geopolitical rivalry between the US and China.   

The eye-watering cost of AUKUS (~$368 billion over a 30-40 year timeframe) “unbalances the Australia Defence Force and denies opportunities for us to strengthen more relevant defensive and non-aggressive capabilities and to pursue a more independent approach in a multipolar world,” argues Smith.

AUKUS is designed to serve the interests of the US to contain China. This is not in Australia’s best national interest. China is our major trading partner and the major power in Asia. The APSF’s submission to the UK inquiry argues that it is not in the interest of the UK or Australia to be part of a China containment strategy, and particularly when US government decision-making is increasingly unpredictable.

Opposition to AUKUS is growing in Australia with the realisation that US and Australian vital interests no longer align and require recalibration. The priorities for Australia are to have fit-for-purpose and affordable national security and national defence strategies and to avoid conflict with China.

The APSF advocates that AUKUS is a very real risk for Australian taxpayers that billions of their taxes are paid to the US and UK governments over the next 30 years, with no guarantee that even one nuclear-powered submarine will arrive in Australia. Moreover, unless and until the vexed problem of nuclear waste storage is resolved, AUKUS should not proceed.

Contact:  Major General Michael G Smith AO (R’etd) 0439 490 297