On 20 March AWPR published a new report on the controversial AUKUS military pact. The report investigates how AUKUS came about and how the public and the parliament have been shut out of the decision making process surrounding the multi-billion dollar plan. The full report is available HERE
Several prominent Australians have endorsed the report. Their comments are published below.
“I’ve long argued that Australia should develop a much more independent foreign and security policy, and that decisions of war and peace should be matters for the Parliament and not the Executive. The whole AUKUS debacle, documented in this AWPR report, undermines both these principles and leaves Australia and Australians worse off as a result. When Australia enters into international security agreements, it should be on the condition that our security is bolstered by and not beholden to those agreements.”
– Independent MP and former intelligence official Andrew Wilkie
“The AUKUS submarine plan is not only ruinously expensive for Australia’s real defence needs, locking us into long term conflict with China, but is unmatched in Australian defence and foreign policy history for its undermining of Australian sovereignty.”
– Professor Richard Tanter of the Nautilus Institute
“Australians for War Power Reform have produced an excellent report on the problems attendant on the AUKUS pact. Their Report examines not just the profound economic, strategic, and political flaws inherent in AUKUS; it also shows that ordinary Australians have had no say in what is one of the most momentous decisions taken by any of our governments since1945, a decision which relegates our military sovereignty to an external war-hungry ally.”
– Honorary Associate Professor Marianne Hanson, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland
“Australians are asked to take on faith that the most expensive, secretive and radical new Defence purchases, under AUKUS, are in the national interest. No debate, no consultation, no access to the basic information like, why would we surrender our defence, intelligence and technological sovereignty to the US at a time when no one knows what the new Trump administration will do next? This forensic and timely report needs to be read by everyone who cares about Australia’s sovereignty and the future generations who will be paying for this debacle for decades.”
– Dr. Julie Macken, Justice and Peace Office, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney
“Any suggestion that Australia will exercise sovereignty over the AUKUS nuclear powered submarines by virtue of our “title” is mistaken where it is not mischievous. The RAN will never have the expertise or the authority to certify the submarines for operational use, or the competencies of those RAN officers who might command or manage them. And it will always be America’s expectation that Australia deploys them on America’s terms for America’s purposes.”
– Allan Behm, Advisor, International & Security Affairs Program, the Australia Institute
“AUKUS undermines Australian security. Rather than providing protection, the proposed nuclear-powered submarines would intensify conflict. They will multiply the arms race, increasing the risk of war. Nuclear powered submarines are the most exorbitant weapons Australia has ever planned to purchase, diverting top priority spending on housing and health, diplomacy and international aid for development. Purchasing them destroys what is left of Australian sovereignty and independence. They have never been rigorously evaluated. Rather, Australia’s national interest depends on preparing a peace and security strategy.”
– John Langmore AM, Professorial Fellow and Chair, Initiative for Peacebuilding Board, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne
