It’s almost as if the new AUKUS catchphrase should be “The Australian government: Keeping our head below water.” There was barely a whimper when the UK’s new defence secretary landed on our shores, while UK prime minister Andy Burnham says he’s “fully supportive” of a submarine program that will be delivered long after he’s departed Number 10 Downing Street.
This week’s visit of UK Defence Secretary Luke Pollard to Perth barely sparked interest in the media. Aside from a story in the West Australian, the next most substantial post was on West Australian premier Roger Cook’s Facebook page.
Cook said it was, “Fantastic to meet with Luke Pollard… as the nation’s home of AUKUS, Western Australia will play a central role in building Australia’s future defence capability.”
The proud West Australian declaration must have come as a surprise to South Australia which thought it was the home of AUKUS, as some of the nuclear submarines are going to be cobbled together at the Osborne shipyard in Adelaide.
Pollard was tagged in Cook’s post; however, a perusal of the Defence Secretary’s Facebook finds no mention of Perth. There was one shout out, “Hello Plymouth [his electorate]. I really enjoy hosting work experience students in my office.”
Late on Tuesday, long after he met with Cook, Pollard posted on his X account, “The United Kingdom remains committed to AUKUS – we are all in on AUKUS.” It got no run on Cook’s dormant X feed.
The meeting didn’t rate a mention at all on the West Australian government’s official media statements webpage, nor the UK Ministry of Defence media announcements webpage.
Talk about mixed messaging, it doesn’t bode well for the UK’s delivery of the first SSN-AUKUS submarine which, assuming there are no delays, is still well over a decade away.
Before the official announcement kerfuffle, the West Australian was first to move. Even then it wasn’t an exclusive, reporter Caitlin Vinci got her hands on a copy of the transcript of a lunchtime speech Pollard had delivered to the Australian British Chamber of Commerce.
Pollard confidently told a willing Anglophile audience, “AUKUS is good for all three partners… it is bad for those people who oppose our values and oppose our place in the world.” Wonder who he thinks are the baddies; surely not the people who for decades have kept the West Australian economy afloat?
Full steam ahead from new PM
Before touching down in Perth, Pollard brought a message to Canberra—where met with defence industry minister Pat Conroy—from newly installed UK prime minister Andy Burnham. The Labour leader is, according to his defence secretary, “fully supportive of AUKUS”.
It’s classic political speak on a defence project that will be kicked down the road for decades.
If the UK continues to turn over its leadership at the current rate, the delivery of the first British-built SSN-AUKUS submarine is at least seven prime ministers away.
While Burnham seems genuinely more committed to honouring a pact with a once British colony than his immediate predecessor, the reality of submarine building makes it a tough ask.
Britain has to build two Astute-class submarines and four Dreadnought ballistic missile submarines before it delivers the first of its SSN-AUKUS submarines. Two months ago, the UK’s entire fleet of Astute-class submarines was in dry dock.
Turnbull’s AUKUS torpedo
Last week, former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull gave evidence before the AUKUS Public Inquiry, chaired by former environment minister Peter Garrett.
Turnbull told the Sydney hearing, “This is an inquiry that should have been held by the Australian Parliament. The Australian Parliament has of the three parliaments involved—the US Congress, the British Parliament, and ours—the most at stake, but has been the least curious and is certainly the least informed.
“And every single one of the 226 members of the House of Representatives and the Senate should ask themselves whether they are actually serving the people that put them there by continuing to refuse to properly examine this enormous commitment.”
While the former prime minister has made it clear he is a strong supporter of the US alliance, he says it should not be at the expense of Australia’s sovereignty. He told the audience, “The bottom line is that we are living in a more dangerous more unpredictable world. Our great ally, the United States, is not by accident, not by circumstance, but by deliberate design much less dependable today than it has been in the past.”
Turnbull is not the first, and will not be the last, prime minister to shift his tone out of office but he made an erudite point in saying, “The more sucking up you do, all they do is put up with it for a while and then call for the next sycophant to join the queue.”
