AUKUS ‘such a bad deal’ for Australia: Turnbull
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has trashed the AUKUS partnership as a “bad deal” for Australia, amid concerns over the future of the trilateral security alliance.
Speaking at Parliament House on Monday, Turnbull argued that Australia had “no guarantee” it would get any new US nuclear-powered submarines because everything depended on the American navy maintaining its own needs first.
“The most likely outcome of the AUKUS pillar one is that we will end up with no submarines of our own,” the ex-Liberal leader said.
“There will be Australian sailors serving on US submarines, and we’ll provide them with a base in Western Australia.
“We will have lost both sovereignty and security and a lot of money as well. That’s why I say it is a really bad deal.”
The US Navy already has fewer submarines than it wants.
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Asked about reports that US President Donald Trump supported the AUKUS partnership, Turnbull said “of course he’d like it”.
“It’s such a bad deal for us… [Trump] might be thinking, ‘who are these dumb guys that agreed to this deal?’.”
AUKUS is a three-nation security partnership signed under then prime minister Scott Morrison involving Australia, Britain and the US.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth last month said Trump backed the $368 billion deal after Australia made a $800 million down payment for the plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Under the agreement, Australia has been promised at least three Virginia class submarines from the US in the early 2030s, before a new fleet of boats is built for delivery from the 2040s.
US military officers have previously described the partnership as “ironclad”.
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But Trump’s pick for defence policy under-secretary, China hawk Elbridge Colby, has previously questioned selling submarines to Australia because it could leave the US Navy “vulnerable” if there was military conflict.
A grassroots anti-AUKUS movement called Labor Against War has written to federal Labor MPs and candidates urging them to jump ship “given the tremendous upheaval in US-Australian relations in recent days and weeks”.
Former Labor senator and campaign patron Doug Cameron said persisting with AUKUS would detract from the “many achievements of Labor in office and strengthen those who would profit at the expense of peace and diplomacy”.
“The first few weeks of Trump’s presidency demonstrates he is belligerent, untrustworthy and dangerous,” he said.
“There are other more realistic and cost-effective strategies to protect our territorial integrity without subjugating ourselves to a dangerous, unpredictable and unworthy Trump administration.”
Turnbull’s scathing AUKUS assessment follows a tit-for-tat last week in which he urged the Albanese government to take a stronger line on US tariffs, insisting Australians shouldn’t be scared of offending Trump’s “huge ego”.
“You know, the markets are being roiled, the world is being roiled,” Turnbull said.
“Trump has essentially switched sides and is now favouring [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin in the Ukraine conflict, right around the world.”
Trump hit back calling Turnbull a “weak and ineffective leader” in a social media spray.
