Antinuclear

Independent public inquiry report finds AUKUS nuclear submarine ambitions are ‘unachievable’

4 November 2026 | By Andrew McLaughlin https://psnews.com.au/independent-public-inquiry-report-finds-aukus-nuclear-submarine-ambitions-are-unachievable/188112/

A public inquiry into the trilateral AUKUS construct has released its Commissioner’s Report into one of Australia’s most controversial defence projects ever, the planned acquisition by the Royal Australian Navy of nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Titled Surrendering Australia, the AUKUS Deception, the report says the AUKUS Pillar I agreement between Australia, the UK and the US for nuclear submarines from these countries to be rotationally based in Western Australia from 2027, for Australia to buy up to five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the 2030s, and for Australia to build new submarines of a British design in the 2040s should be scrapped.

The report says, since the AUKUS agreement was announced in 2021, the government has declined to thoroughly review the agreement, and hasn’t explained in detail how it advances Australia’s interests or better protects us.

“They have avoided answering fundamental questions about the costs and risks associated with AUKUS and have simply not answered the key question: ‘why AUKUS?’” it reads.

“Similarly, MPs from the major parties have brushed aside community concerns and avoided their responsibility to seriously debate in the parliament Australia’s largest ever defence acquisition program – estimated at over half a trillion dollars when the cost of nuclear waste disposal is included.

“After carefully considering all the material presented to us – over 10 days of hearings around Australia and more than 1000 submissions – we concluded that AUKUS is the worst, riskiest and most costly defence decision ever made by an Australian government,” it says.

“Neither the submissions we received nor the hearings we conducted uncovered any convincing foundations for AUKUS.”

The inquiry found the planned delivery schedule for the Virginia-class submarines and the follow-on SSN-AUKUS boats was “at best, problematic, and most likely unachievable”.

“What is more, successive governments have never adequately explained the need for nuclear-powered attack submarines in preference to submarine types with a more defensive capability and better suited to Australia’s regional waters.”

It said Australia had already spent about $9.2 billion to shore up the defence industrial bases of the US and UK and to start building a submarine shipyard in Australia, and that a further $50 billion was planned to be spent before any submarines are delivered.

“Extraordinarily, the lopsided agreement means the UK and US could walk away without delivering any submarines while retaining the billions of dollars we are providing to support their submarine building industries. Australia would have no redress,” it says.

In addition to these doubts, the report also cited unexplained costs, a declining trust in government here and in the US and a growing overreliance on the US, questions over Australia’s sovereignty over the submarines, a lack of strategic justification premised on what it says are false assertions of an increased risk of war with China, and long-term high-level nuclear waster storage and disposal problems, as reasons not to proceed.

Coordinated by the Australian Peace and Security Forum (APSF) and funded through crowd sourcing, the inquiry was launched on 3 June with the goal of conducting open hearings into the proposed $368 billion project.

The inquiry was headed up by former Labor minister and Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, and included fellow commissioners former WA Labor premier and federal Labor minister Dr Carmen Lawrence, former Chief of Navy and Chief of Defence Force Admiral Chris Barrie (Ret’d), the co-CEO of the Australia Institute Leanne Minshull, and Yankunytjatjara woman Karina Lester.

“This is a once in a generation, if not once in a century, serious level decision-making exercise by Australian governments plural,” Garrett said at the launch. “The Australian people need to be a part of it.”

Over the four months of the inquiry from June to September, hearings were held in Melbourne, Fremantle, Adelaide, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Brisbane, and Canberra. In total, the hearings heard from more than 150 witnesses, while more than 1000 written submissions were received.

“The Australian Peace and Security Forum, supported by several trade unions and community groups, combined to establish a public inquiry into AUKUS, relying on crowdfunding and grants,” the report reads

“With terms of reference agreed, the inquiry accessed information available on the public record from the three AUKUS partners and invited submissions and testimony from experts and citizens.

Presentations were made by former politicians including former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, former Labor ministers for foreign affairs Professor Gareth Evans and Bob Carr, former Labor deputy prime minister and defence minister Kym Beazley, and former Coalition defence minister Christopher Pyne and defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.

Current politicians who presented included ACT independent Senator David Pocock, NSW Greens Senator David Shoebridge, and Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie, WA independent MLA Johanthan Huston, WA Greens MLC Sophie McNeill, SA Greens MLC Melanie Selwood, Newcastle Deputy Lord Mayor Charlotte McCabe and Greens Councillor for Newcastle Siobhan Isherwood.

The government’s failure to appear and present comprehensive information on, and the reasons for, the AUKUS pact, and to answer the many serious questions asked by constituents was telling, and represents a failure in public accountability,” the report says.

November 6, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | weapons and war