00:00And so, friends, AUKUS is born.
00:04In 2021, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the AUKUS deal out of the blue.
00:09Australia's biggest ever military spending project, and most importantly, pinning Australia's
00:14future defence on a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines at an eye-watering cost of nearly
00:21$370 billion.
00:24Australia, through this deal, has gained access to highly-prized military technology.
00:31Nuclear-powered subs are more stealthy, they're much faster, and unlike diesel-electric subs,
00:37they can essentially stay underwater indefinitely.
00:39They're only limited by the need to stock up on food.
00:43The deal was done in secret with the US and the UK, and it meant ripping up an existing
00:48French contract for new diesel-electric submarines, and that did not go down well.
00:54But the fuss died down, and for more than three years, AUKUS has largely been out of
00:59the news.
01:00Apart from Donald Trump's trade wars against friendly countries, including Australia, he's
01:05made it clear that America is pulling back from its role as the world's military superpower.
01:11And your say is telling us that, for you, that's a worry.
01:15We've seen comments like these.
01:17If the US can completely ignore a free trade agreement, how can Australia rely on their
01:21defence promises?
01:22Or this.
01:23Get out of AUKUS, because there is no way the USA will go to war to protect Australia.
01:30And this.
01:31The US has permanently changed, and we can no longer trust them.
01:35But the main concern coming through from your say is that when the time comes, Americans
01:40simply won't follow through on their end of the deal, which is to sell Australia between
01:44three and five nuclear submarines.
01:47You're telling us the likelihood of the US selling us any submarines in the next 20 years
01:52is unlikely, because the US is short of submarines.
01:55And this.
01:56With the US no longer a reliable partner, why would Australia be handing over billions
02:00of dollars to a long-range scheme that may never come to fruition?
02:05Well, that's possible.
02:07Because there's a very important clause in the AUKUS deal that says the Americans don't
02:11actually have to sell us any subs.
02:14They don't think they have any to spare.
02:16And the US submarine building program is behind.
02:19According to some estimates, and the US Congress itself, the Americans could have only half
02:25the number of submarines they need for their own fleet when the time comes to sell the
02:29first one to Australia.
02:31There are some very vocal critics of AUKUS in Australia.
02:35That includes the former Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who did the original submarine deal
02:40with France.
02:41We are paying US$3 billion to the Americans to support their submarine industrial base.
02:47But we have no guarantee that we will ever get any submarines.
02:51But perhaps most of all, you were giving us comments about that price tag of up to $368
02:58billion.
02:59Comments like these.
03:00Cancel AUKUS.
03:01Put the money into health and education.
03:04The money used for this scandalous project could solve the housing crisis.
03:08And this.
03:09Why don't we cancel AUKUS and go back to the French subs and save some money?
03:13The Greens say Australia should do it now.
03:16And so too does a group calling itself Labor Against War, which is urging current Labor
03:21MPs to dump the deal.
03:24But neither of the major parties, as they exist in parliament at the moment, is interested.
03:29Do you think Australia should be reconsidering at all things like AUKUS or our intelligence
03:34sharing with the Trump administration?
03:37Not for a minute, David.
03:38In fact, I think we should double down on those and we should bring forward them as
03:42much as we can.
03:43I want to see AUKUS delivered in an even more timely way.
03:45And it has to be said, there are many advocates in Australia who want the AUKUS deal to go
03:50ahead.
03:51Their argument is that the sheer capability of nuclear-powered submarines to defend an
03:57island nation in modern warfare simply can't be matched.
04:01But it might all be out of Australia's hands anyway.
04:05Because it remains to be seen what Donald Trump really thinks about AUKUS and whether,
04:09as he has with other friendly allied nations, he could rip up an existing agreement and
04:15demand a better deal.
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