Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has revealed he had been working on a plan to fast-track Australia’s acquisition of nuclear submarines before the end of the decade, amid rising regional tensions.
In an opinion piece in The Australian on Thursday, the former defence minister said that before the federal election in May, Defence was investigating purchasing two Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US by 2030.
The arrival of the submarines would be at least 10 years ahead of schedule, compared with being built in Australia.
Mr Dutton said he anticipated the government would have been ready to make an announcement on which submarine class to go with as soon as July.
He’s accused the Albanese government of placing the AUKUS security pact in jeopardy, which incudes Australia acquiring eight nuclear powered submarines.
Mr Dutton said he always suspected Labor was “never truly supportive” of the trilateral agreement.
“I really worry now that Labor is walking away from AUKUS, from the submarine deal, and that is clearly not in our national interest,” he told 2GB on Thursday.
“I hope that they can reconsider because they’re making all sorts of excuses at the moment.”
Mr Dutton wrote the American submarine was the best option to prevent a capability gap following the retirement of the Collins-class submarines from 2038.
“I believed it possible to negotiate with the Americans to acquire, say, the first two submarines off the production line out of Connecticut,” he wrote.
“This wouldn’t mean waiting until 2038 for the first submarine to be built here in Australia.
“We would have our first two subs this decade. I had formed a judgement the Americans would have facilitated exactly that.”
Mr Dutton said Australia needed nuclear-powered boats because “diesel-electric submarines would not be able to compete against the Chinese in the South China Sea beyond 2035”.
Defence Minister Richard Marles told The Australian, the government was “completely committed” to delivering eight nuclear submarines, which the nation is set to acquire under the AUKUS security pact.
Earlier this week, it was revealed a Chinese military fighter jet dangerously intercepted a RAAF plane conducting routine surveillance in international airspace on May 26.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would “stand up” for Australia’s national interest.
“We want to see a de-escalation of tension in the region,” he told KIIS radio on Thursday.
“It’s not in anyone’s interests for instances like this to occur.
“It was a breach of the way that these things are normally done, so we’re very concerned about that.”
China’s growing interest in the region was also on the agenda of Mr Albanese’s bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo earlier this week.
