A five-month-long independent public inquiry into Australia's A$368 billion ($239 billion) AUKUS nuclear submarine program — led by former Labor minister Peter Garrett and former Australian defense force chief Chris Barrie — has delivered a Commissioner's Report, which judges the plan to be "the worst, riskiest and most costly defense decision ever made by an Australian government".
The report, which was released on Wednesday, calls for the trilateral security agreement to be scrapped immediately, and a special commission to be established to investigate how Australia got into "this mess".
In September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States established the AUKUS "security" pact, which includes Australia's acquisition of technology for eight nuclear-powered submarines and aims to deepen cooperation on advanced military technologies such as cyber capabilities and quantum technologies. It was a deal to counter what the three nations perceived to be China's growing "assertiveness" in the "Indo-Pacific".
Though the project was sold to the Australian people as a generational strategic necessity, the inquiry has concluded that it actually jeopardizes Australia's national sovereignty, ties the country to the US military bandwagon and endangers rather than enhances its security. "We should never allow an acquisition program like AUKUS to define our national security," Barrie noted.
The so-called "security partnership" runs counter to Australia's national interests. Its staggering costs divert resources away from essential public needs, and it unnecessarily entangles Australia in geopolitical competition.
It would be "madness" for Australia to take on a major country such as China, Barrie said. "It may serve the interests of the United States, but it would not serve ours."
Indeed, AUKUS is by no means a mere "defense cooperation" initiative as claimed. Instead, it serves as an instrument for the US to advance bloc confrontation and fuel geopolitical rivalry across the Asia-Pacific. Through nuclear submarine cooperation, the US seeks to anchor Australia to its military planning, and beef up military deployments in the South Pacific and Southeast Asian waters. These moves threaten regional peace and stability.
Australia is a non-nuclear-weapon state, and the AUKUS plan to transfer weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to power nuclear submarines raises high proliferation risks and presents grave hidden dangers for global nuclear governance. Such a move undermines the foundation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and sets a dangerous precedent for other nations.
Thus, the hegemony-driven arrangement contravenes the spirit and principles of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty and the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone. It also risks triggering a regional arms race, casting a shadow of confrontation over the waters of the Asia-Pacific.
It is encouraging that opposition to the AUKUS plan has been increasing in Australia. More and more Australian people are recognizing the significant risks associated with the project. The latest report reflects a concentrated voice of rational forces within Australian society.
Facts suggest that blindly following an extraterritorial power in pursuit of enhanced military capability cannot deliver genuine security for Australia, and dependent military arrangements will only compromise Australia's strategic autonomy and increase the country's security risks.
The Chinese government firmly opposes the AUKUS nuclear submarine program, calling it a "textbook case of nuclear proliferation", which risks sparking bloc confrontation in the region.
While some neo-militarists in Japan increasingly long for US nuclear submarines to accelerate Japan's remilitarization, Australia has every reason to make the right choice. Withdrawing from the AUKUS program is the correct path for Australia to protect its own interests and help maintain regional peace.
