https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/30/aukus-submarine-deal-buil...Mon 30 Oct 2023
Plan to build Aukus submarines in Adelaide is ‘a fairytale’ and ‘pork barrelling’,
Alexander Downer says
Former foreign minister says building nuclear submarines at South Australian shipyard will ‘drain the national economy’
The $368bn
Aukus plan to build nuclear submarines in Adelaide has been labelled “a fairytale” and “pork barrelling” by Alexander Downer, Australia’s longest serving foreign minister.
Downer said on Monday that the central plank of Aukus would “drain the national economy”, joining a number of elder statespersons with concerns about the feasibility or desirability of building nuclear submarines.
Ships from the Royal Australian Navy, including the Anzac class frigates HMAS Perth and Warramunga. A new report calls for an overall increase in RAN ships, but a cut in the Hunter class frigate order.
Australia urged to cut back $45bn Hunter-class frigate project as part of ‘bold revamp’
Read more
Under the Aukus plan, in the early 2030s Australia will acquire US Virginia-class submarines. Australia will upgrade the shipyard at Osborne, South Australia immediately to begin constructing new SSN-Aukus submarines by the end of the decade for delivery in the early 2040s. The entire plan is estimated to cost up to $368bn between now and the mid-2050s.
On Monday, Downer questioned where Australia would get “$360,000 million dollars from”.
“Getting the nuclear submarines is important to national and, more broadly, regional security, so I’m in favour of that, but building them in Australia was way too expensive and it will never happen,” he told Radio National.
“None of the politicians in power today will be in power by [the time the submarines are launched in the 2040s]. They won’t have to deal with the consequences of this; some future government will have to deal with it.”
Forum
Pages: 1 
