Australia’s move to strengthen its defence capability with five nuclear-powered attack submarines underlines how relatively defenceless New Zealand is in the Pacific.
Kiwis may gasp that the Labor government in Australia recognises it must outlay $400bn on the nuclear subs, but this ensures that Australia is not exposed to any marauding raid.
Part of the deal under the Aukus umbrella (embracing Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States) is that Australia will regularly host US nuclear-powered submarines beginning within five years, and embedding its military personnel with the US and UK navies, as it begins the process of establishing its own industry.
US President Joe Biden has stressed that the submarines, provided under the trilateral security pact would be “nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed”.
“These boats will not have any nuclear weapons of any kind of them,” he said during a news conference held by the leaders of Australia, the US and the UK in San Diego on Tuesday.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the agreement “represents the biggest single investment in Australia’s defence capability in all of our history.”
He noted it was “the first time in 65 years, and only the second time in history, that the United States has shared its nuclear propulsion technology, and we thank you for it”.
Of course some New Zealanders may mock Australia’s government for buying nuclear subs but, at the same time, refusing to agree to nuclear reactors onshore to replace fossil-fuelled electricity generators, but other Kiwis may be eager to shelter under the Australian nuclear umbrella.
Australia is also to begin building its own fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide. They are set to begin service in the 2040s with a cost ranging from A$268 billion (NZ$287b) to A$368b up to 2055.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Aukus “the most significant multilateral defence partnership in generations”.
He said the UK would share its 60 years of experience running its own submarine fleet with Australian engineers “so they can build their own”.
Australia’s decision to buy the nuclear submarines has been in the works for some time, and had been planned by the previous government in Canberra in the Scott Morrison era. He was one of the drivers in establishing Aukus, a relatively new defence arrangement with the US, the UK and Australia in what amounts to a direct counter to China’s growing influence in the region.
Standing with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, President Biden unveiled details of the arrangement at a time of rising tensions with China and amid a global realignment that is triggering dramatic increases in military spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The agreement is a substantial one, as Australia over the next several decades will be spending more than $100 billion to buy the submarines and build up its own industrial capacity, as well as shore up America’s and Britain’s shipbuilding capability, officials said.
The arrangement is the culmination of 1½ years of negotiations. The US will initially sell Australia three Virginia-class attack submarines, with an option to buy two more. The aim is for the first submarine to be delivered by 2032.
After that, Australia will buy a British-designed nuclear-powered sub, to be called the SSN-AUKUS, that will include substantial US technology. It will be built in the UK, with Australia eventually developing the capacity to build its own version in the 2040s.
“It demonstrates the ultimate commitment to allies — taking the crown jewels of America’s technology and sharing them with Australia,” Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said.
Meanwhile back in NZ PM Chris Hipkins told reporters the nuclear-powered submarines would not be welcome in NZ.
Would we be concerned about the nuclear power if NZ came under attack and Aukus came to our defence?
Point of Order 