Antinuclear

Submission- Dr Marty Branagan -re new agreement on  Naval Nuclear Propulsion- it’s the worst foreign policy mistake

It will contribute to a regional arms race which could have disastrous consequences.

China and Australia have a mutually-beneficial trade relationship which this deal will harm.

a growing national movement which wants an end to AUKUS

Submission no. 10  https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Treaties/NuclearPropulsion/Submissions

The acquisition of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines (some of them second-hand) costing up to
A$368 billion is the largest defence project since World War Two and the worst foreign policy
mistake since a failed bid to introduce conscription during World War One, according to former
prime minister Paul Keating. Occurring with little public consultation, it was supported by a ‘Red
Alert’ series of fearmongering front-page articles in Australia’s ‘Nine’ newspapers in consultation
with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which has close ties to arms dealers, and which argued
for greater defence capabilities to resist a supposedly imminent war with China. Yet China and
Australia have a mutually-beneficial trade relationship which this deal will harm. It will contribute to
a regional arms race which could have disastrous consequences. It is already shifting valuable
resources away from the more pressing threat of global warming facing both countries. The cost is
massive at a time of desperate need for social housing and cost-of-living relief; for that money, far
more people could be employed in education, health, housing, agricultural, environmental and social
service

The project can be cancelled with a year’s notice according to a revamped AUKUS agreement tabled
in federal parliament, and there’s no guarantee whether an almost $5 billion payment to the USA
will be refunded if no nuclear-powered boats are delivered. Australia has also agreed to indemnify
the US and UK against any loss or injury connected to nuclear materials transferred here. Resistance
has been fierce, with a series of protests against plans for a new submarine base in Port Kembla,
some drawing 5,000 protesters. The South Coast Labor Council, consisting of unions representing
50,000 workers, fear the base could choke a nascent clean energy sector by taking up scarce land
and ushering in security curbs, while the permanent presence of U.S. warships would be a nuclear
target. Environmentalists are concerned about the fact that ‘Australia shall be responsible for the
management, disposition, storage, and disposal of any spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste
resulting from the operation of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Plants’. The ‘Marrickville Declaration’ by 30
community groups such as the Anti-AUKUS Coalition is part of a growing national movement which
wants an end to AUKUS, claiming that its cost and the open-ended commitment to foreign military
priorities are to the detriment of priorities for a resilient, safe and peaceful Australian society. It also
violates Australian sovereignty and our commitment to a nuclear-free Pacific under the Treaty of
Rarotonga (the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty).

Australia’s primary threat is global warming and extreme weather events such as the catastrophic
Lismore floods and 2019-20 bushfires. We would be better served by new fire-fighting planes and
conversion from military operations to disaster response and emergency relief services. Increased
spending on foreign aid, cultural ties, diplomacy, refugee resettlement and nonviolent defence
would strengthen regional peace more cheaply and with a lower environmental footprint.

Dr Marty Branagan
Senior Lecturer in Peace Studies
University of New England
15 August 2024

September 8, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized