THIS week Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the most significant enhancement of our strategic alliances since the formation of ANZUS in 1951 – an enhanced security partnership between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom called AUKUS.
AUKUS will strengthen close ties between our nations, guided by our enduring ideals and shared commitment to an international rules-based order, peaceful fellowship of nations, freedom and democracy.
Through AUKUS, our governments will strengthen and support our security and defence interests. We will promote deeper information and technology sharing, enhanced integration of security and defence-related science and technology and richer co-operation on a range of security and defence capabilities.
The first major initiative of AUKUS is the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia. This fleet will be built in Adelaide and will significantly enhance Australia’s ability to deter threats to our national interests.
To be clear, the subs will not carry nuclear weapons. Australia remains committed to our nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
Fundamentally, the escalating strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific has required this shift. The Chinese communist dictatorship is increasingly asserting its power and influence domestically and internationally, with moves that threaten Australia’s security and prosperity.
China has violently stifled the freedom of Hong Kong, implemented high-tech surveillance and civil ranking systems on its own people, militarised the South China Sea in breach of international law, continues to threaten Taiwan, and aggressively sanctions any nation that dares to even question these approaches.
Australia has been the most recent victim of this aggression. Australia blocked Huawei from investing in our 5G network, passed foreign interference legislation, and called for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
We stood up for our national interests, and this was enough for China to make an example of Australia on the world stage. Locally, our primary industries have felt the effects of limitations on trade to China.
Australia cannot be a bystander to this increasingly challenging strategic environment. AUKUS allows us to maintain peace and security in our neighbourhood, while building on the shared values of freedom, self-determination and democracy that underpin our strong relationships with the United States and the United Kingdom.
