Antinuclear

Australian Political Futures: AUKUS and National Sovereignty

17 August 2026 Denis Bright, https://theaimn.net/australian-political-futures-aukus-and-national-sovereignty/

As the fifth anniversary of the AUKUS commitment by the Morrison Government approaches, investigative media reports must not overlook the murky background, confusing present and unknown strategic projections of being so entangled with the US Global Alliance. Australia’s social and essential service spending options are totally compromised by the direct financial burdens of AUKUS and its effects on security protocols for future investment in the domestic economy with China as Australia’s key trading partner.

In an article for The AIMN last year I expressed concerns about the new imperial role that had been assigned to Australia within the US Global Alliance by the AUKUS deal announced by the Morrison Government in 2021.

Foreign affairs journalist Ben Packham of The Australian continues to chip away with more revelations of these secret AUKUS protocols. A vastly different and morcontracts. A fleet of twelve conventional submarines would now be operational at a fraction of the cost of AUKUS to offer Australians a higher level of national sovereignty in operational commitments with a focus on regional operations over extended manoeuvres in troubled waters to distant parts of Asia and Micronesia.

The long-term costs of AUKUS extends into our domestic economy. More controls on Chinese investment are being maintained in the new AI era while the Trump administration cultivates new commercial ties with China as covered in dozens of YouTube videos.e open strategic future could have prevailed through a continuation of the French submarine Here is but one example: [on original]

As the AUKUS delivery mechanisms move on, the AUKUS Inquiry under the direction of its Commissioners has new relevance:

The online AUKUS Inquiry site has been developed to facilitate submissions.

In my own submission to the AUKUS Inquiry, I emphasized that the outrageous spending on AUKUS added to regional security problems in the Indo Pacific Basin as a commitment to Forward Defiance priorities on behalf of the US Global Alliance including sabre-rattling over the status of Taiwan.

Ironically, Australia is more committed to closer strategic and economic ties with the prevailing US administration than the absolute loyalty offered by the post -1945 governments of other Middle Powers like Italy. Some remnants of these Cold War commitments remain.

Ben Packham’s recent news article in The Australian (7 August 2026) mentioned the NSA Navy Base in Naples (From the US Navy):

Naples 18 June 2026: U.S. Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy is a host to more than 50 separate commands and approximately 8,500 personnel. NSA Naples is located approximately 60 miles (96 kilometers) south from the city of Gaeta and 145 miles (235 kilometers) from Rome.

The U.S. Naval Support Activity (NSA) Naples Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) program hosted a garden party onboard Carney Park, June 11 to showcase extensive park renovations, cabin upgrades, and quality-of-life improvements.

This US social outreach to Italians is commonplace at other military bases in Italy with patriotic themes and displays of conventional weaponry. The Gioia del Colle Base near Bari once hosted Jupiter Nuclear Armed Missiles which were withdrawn by agreement with the Soviet Union in negotiations to end the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

At the Joint US-Italian Base near Livorno and Pisa, military and civilian leaders met to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 251st anniversary celebration at Camp Darby, Italy, on 10 June 2026. Such joint operations extend beyond social events and nostalgic ceremonies.

Italy continues to welcome the presence of US bases and submarine visits to locations shown on the strategic map [on original]. However, more controls are being imposed by Italian governments over the use of these bases for offensive operations .

The strength of the industrial Labor Movement across Australia during the Cold War era kept US bases away from Australia as a commitment from both sides of politics until the 1960s. However, agreement was reached by the LNP on the establishment of the NW Cape Communication Station in 1963 and Pine Gap Joint defiance Facility followed in 1966 as ties with the US Global Alliance intensified during the Vietnam war era.

In opposition and government after 1975, the Labor Party moved in more pragmatic policy directions in relation Australia’s national sovereignty within the US Global Alliance.

The ANZUS Agreement which was given bipartisan support in 1951-52. The text of this agreement is readily available online. Commitments to the use of the Security Council to avoid armed conflicts were a key priority of the ANZUS text. Joint military operations as currently favoured by the Trump administrations were always a last resort. Threats of tariffs, purchases of territory from prospective rivals and military occupations had no place in the agendas of representative governments in traditional ANZUS protocols.

Such strategic alliances with budgets in the trillions annually do not give the US President a right to harass the leaders of Middle Power States within the US Global Alliances (Riccardo Alcaro of The Guardian 1 July 2026): 

If Giorgia Meloni thought that she could put her April spat with Donald Trump over the pope’s criticism of the US war on Iran behind her, she had not banked on the US president’s capacity to bear a grudge.

Trump reignited tensions by telling an Italian TV journalist that the Italian PM had “begged” him for a picture at the recent G7 meeting in France. The Spanish newspaper El País suggested that Trump’s feathers had been ruffled by a video at the same meeting, showing Meloni appearing to scold him. In any case he doubled down on his tale in a Truth Social post, adding that Meloni wanted the photo to boost her flagging approval ratings, which he blamed on her failure to support the US in the Iran war.

Trump’s line of attack is hardly surprising, but Meloni’s forceful response is. In a social media video, she said Trump’s claim about the picture was “made up”. She expressed puzzlement at the US president apparently treating his allies worse than his adversaries. Fusing personal and national pride in a single retort, she concluded: “I do not beg, nor does Italy.”

August 19, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics