There was a personal defence from Anthony Albanese. Aukus supporters lobbed claims of “appeasement” at its critics, which were angrily rejected by a Labor MP and leftwing unions. But in the end, Labor finally thrashed out its position on the Aukus nuclear-submarine acquisition.
Late on Friday morning, the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, and the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, sought to head off a party conference showdown, moving a 32-paragraph statement that argued spending $368bn on nuclear submarines would enhance Australia’s national security.
After two days of tightly managed formalities marching through pre-agreed amendments, the 49th ALP national conference finally stubbed its toe on genuine dissent.
From the conference floor, where the 399 voting delegates sit, came claps as Marles declared: “It’s Labor, it has always been Labor which is the true party of Australia’s national defence”.
Marles set out the facts and figures, saying China had beefed up from six nuclear submarines in 2000 to 21 in 2030.
Labor members are designated observers at the conference and sat further from the stage. But they shouted interjections at Marles and Conroy on behalf of the 50 branches or electorate councils that rejected nuclear waste and greater enmeshment with the US military industrial complex.
While those members rejected as “rubbish” claims that Aukus is vital for national security and begged “don’t lead us into war”, delegates clapped as Conroy declared “strength deters war, appeasement invites conflict”.
When pro-Aukus delegates were sick of the interjections one turned back towards the observers and shouted that they should “join the Greens”.
In the most contentious section of the debate, Conroy evoked Robert Menzies “arguing for appeasement” and cutting defence spending while Labor’s John Curtin “argued for a massive increase in investment in our air force and navy to deter aggressors”.
“So delegates: do you want to be on the side of John Curtin, or do you want to be on the side of pig iron Bob Menzies?,” Conroy said.
The Labor MP Josh Wilson, already outspoken in his opposition to Aukus, was having none of that.
With the greatest respect to Conroy, Wilson hit back that the accusations of “appeasement” levelled at those who question a “particular defence and security decision or acquisition” was “ridiculous”.
“Deterrence is not a one-word justification for any and every defence acquisition.
“And anyone who thinks the intention to extend the scope of one’s threat capacity only serves to reduce the potential for conflict has not looked very closely at the history of conflict,” Wilson said, to claps from the observers.
The Electrical Trades Union’s national secretary, Michael Wright, used his right of reply to reject the ad hominem appeasement response, and noted there was “deafening silence” from supporters “about what we’re doing with this waste for the next 100,000 years”.
Labor Environment Action Network’s (Lean’s) Felicity Wade said she was “scared that a world that has more nuclear power is a more dangerous world”.
The Australian Workers Union’s Paul Farrow joked at Lean’s expense that “we can’t create solar-powered submarines”.
Then came the big moment: Albanese, who was not scheduled to speak but had tipped his hand on Thursday that he would participate, was given Marles’s right of reply to make the case for Aukus.
Albanese argued there was “no security in isolation” and he regarded an “enhancement” of the US alliance as consistent with Labor values.
Nuclear submarines “are harder to detect and can travel further”, the prime minister said.
“I have come to the position based upon advice and analysis that nuclear powered submarines are what Australia needs in the future.”
Australia is a mature nation that “understands that a bright future calls for more than sunny optimism”.
“We have to analyse the world as it is rather than as we would want it to be. We have to bring our defence capabilities up to speed and Aukus is central to that.”
Objections and interjections during the Albanese speech were fewer in number, perhaps because members had got it out of their system hating on Conroy. The prime minister then moved on to safer territory, getting a big clap for the promise of 20,000 “well-paid union jobs” from building submarines in Australia.
About four-fifths of the delegates gave Albanese a standing ovation, and then it was time to vote on Marles and Conroy’s pro-Aukus statement.
It was carried on the voices, meaning there was no counting of cards. The section of delegates opposed to Aukus was clearly outnumbered but generated a good amount of noise for a quarter to one-fifth of the delegates.
They included left-aligned unions the ETU, maritime union, Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, manufacturing workers union, Australian Services Union and some rank and file members.
The anti-Aukus motions were declared lapsed by the ALP president, Wayne Swan, and the relevant chapter of the platform closed, turning the page on a well-managed dissent months in the making.
