Australians for War Powers Reform strongly supports the very many calls, including from some of Australia’s most senior political figures, for a review of the secretive and anti-democratic AUKUS deal.
Since the announcement of AUKUS by Scott Morrison on 16 September 2021 – to a stunned nation and global community – the Australian public and our parliament have been kept in the dark every step of the way.
This multi-decade and very costly decision was not previously discussed or foreshadowed, and there was no consultation with the public or parliament, and not even Treasury and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
AWPR spokesperson Peter Murphy said “The AUKUS pact has become a textbook example of how to disenfranchise the community, providing almost no transparency or democracy in a sweeping and exorbitantly expensive decision which will affect Australia for decades. The deal has no legitimate social licence because practically the whole nation has been shut out of the process.”
The process, and some of the multiple unanswered questions about AUKUS, are documented in AWPR’s recent report “AUKUS: the surrender of transparency, accountability and sovereignty”.
The report addresses, among other things:
· Australia’s marginalising of our Pacific neighbours regarding AUKUS;
· A failure to adequately address global concerns about the precedent set by Australia acquiring weapons-grade nuclear material (which will fuel the submarines);
· Leaving the intractable nuclear waste problem to future generations;
· The alarm caused among Chinese Australians by escalation – beyond available evidence – of the “China threat” narrative;
· Whether AUKUS, far from “deterring” war, is a step in a march to a war that would be catastrophic for all sides.
