Antinuclear

AUKUS is a global issue – don’t let Albanese sweep it under the carpet

7 November 2026 Noel Wauchope, https://theaimn.net/aukus-is-a-global-issue-dont-let-albanese-sweep-it-under-the-carpet/

So easy to dismiss the AUKUS Public Inquiry. Apart from one feeble attempt to disparage it – by Jennifer Parker, in The Conversation, the mainstream media have pretty much left it alone, captive as they are, to the purportedly progressive and leftish Labor State and Federal governments. And it’s interesting that Ms Parker, of the, Defence and Security Institute, The University of Western Australia; UNSW,  so confidently dismisses the evidence of former Chief of the Defence Force, Inquiry Commissioner, Chris Barrie.

And weren’t the media lucky? They can have a party with the pleasant surprise of the Democrats trouncing Trump at the U.S. mid-term elections (even though Trump can make executive action havoc until the new Congress and Senate take over on 3rd January 2027). But the Australian media can rejoice about this and demonstrate their progressiveness, while ignoring the “trivial” AUKUS thing.

The Australian mainstream media is so busy toeing the line that Prime Minister Albanese has set up – be a small target – look what happened to Gough Whitlam, so busy that they’re becoming irrelevant.

The Albanese government has a huge advantage in the Parliament, with 94 MPs, and the lead in the Senate, but it chooses to become indistinguishable from the Opposition, when it comes to foreign policy. Everyone still bleats “Security” when there’s a risk of saying something slightly different from the USA’s mantras on relations with South East Asia and the Pacific. And here’s where AUKUS comes in.

The pretence is that AUKUS is for Australia’s security. Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.

In his introduction at the Press Club Luncheon, Garrett says that the Inquiry project goes to the heart of what kind of country we want to be.

The Inquiry was done with the love and concern of so many people, and all done without drawing on the public purse at all. Concerns include the question of radioactive waste. And above all, in the AUKUS decision-making, the government spurned any parliamentary oversight practices. The AUKUS agreement was announced with fanfare, but no scrutiny.

The Inquiry included an Impressive range of former parliamentarians and defence experts, who concluded that AUKUS is seriously flawed and unlikely to deliver security.

It means that at Stirling in Western Australia, 2000 US troops are to be housed at Australia’s expense. That’s just one part of the costs of the AUKUS agreement. There will be no recourse, no refunds, if things go wrong. There is also no costing made for storage of US radioactive waste. Neither USA or UK have waste facilities. There is no public understanding, no public consent. AUKUS legislation overrides existing legislation.

Chris Barrie explained that the AUKUS nuclear submarine plan is untenable. It would be madness for Australia to take on a great power like China. It makes no sense to build our defence policy around partnering the USA in a war against China.

Australia would be the only non-nuclear weapons state to operate nuclear powered submarines fuelled by weapons grade uranium. Australia has agreed to dispose of all radioactive wastes from the submarines. US subs could later carry nuclear weapons. We need to scrap the AUKUS submarine project now – and get the government to produce a comprehensive security strategy.We do need submarines. We must decide on what is the purpose of submarines. The Government should explain this – Australians should decide for ourselves, and have the submarines under Australian command and control. The test is whether we can say no – one of the hardest decisions a government has ever had to make.

Peter Garrett concluded that we need to share, and publicise the results of this inquiry. We need a Royal Commission into the AUKUS mess. End Pillar 2, suspend Stirling naval base and have an immediate audit of AUKUS.

Question time followed. It seemed to be a pretty widespread boycott of this Inquiry by the mainstream media. But there were exceptions – 9 News, the Sydney Morning Herald, and AAP. But overseas news media had noticed this Inquiry. And I thought that the most pertinent question came from Miriam Weber, from Politico, and the first woman to get a word in. Miriam Weber asked: “Do you have a plan to get the government to pay attention?”

And really, after all the work of so many people, including Defence experts, and former Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers from both Labor and Liberal – that is the big question.

Can this excellent Inquiry just sink and disappear under the weight of politicians and journalists deciding that their top priority is keeping their jobs? And as for the Labor Party, it’s sad to realise that the formerly anti-nuclear Anthony Albanese now has an unprecedented autocratic control over the Labor Party! The subject was carefully banned from discussion at the recent national Labor Conference in Adelaide! Is Labor going to continue to kowtow to this suppression of debate?

And here’s a bit of why I think that AUKUS is so very important:

Australia is the only continent which is governed by one single national government, and is a continent which has successfully resisted the commercial and military nuclear industry over decades, with both national and State legislation against it.

Australia has a really democratic political system, with compulsory voting, and preferential voting. It is run by an efficient, impartial and independent Electoral Commission.

Australia is part of South East Asia, and is a truly multicultural nation. It makes sense to maintain cordial relationships with our neighbours, even if we can differ on some individual matters. It does not make sense for Australians to see ourselves as some sort of Christian white outpost of USA and UK militarism, ready to be the frontline of battle against China.

Australia has a very considerable Chinese heritage, not always one to be proud of. Now we do have a proud and successful group of people with Chinese heritage – 5.5%of the population (compared with indigenous 2.5%). It is a disgrace and a shame that in the last few years, Australian education, particularly in universities, has downgraded the teaching of foreign languages and culture, especially Chinese. The industry-driven push for STEM education does have its role – we do need science education. But not as a definite campaign to stifle the humanities – which is what has happened to university funding.

In this tense, crisis-driven world, what is desperately needed is communication, negotiation, the reaching out for respectful understanding of other nations’ cultures, especially in the South East Asian neighbourhood. Trumpism will be over soon. How good it would be for Australia to dump its “cultural cringe” and take the lead in rejecting the USA-UK military-industrial-nuclear complex, by rejecting the AUKUS folly!

The USA seems to have only one big export industry – weaponry. Time for the world to stop buying the USA’s weapons and its philosophy of endless wars. Australia is poised to lead the way.

November 8, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews, politics international