2026-06-25
AUKUS, rights and the fight for an independent Australia
By Senator David Shoebridge
AUKUS is not going well. In fact, it is increasingly clear that this $400 billion project is in meltdown.
The promise was that Australia would acquire nuclear-powered submarines, beginning with Virginia-class submarines from the United States in the early 2030s, before eventually building a new SSN-AUKUS submarine with the United Kingdom. But the more scrutiny this project receives, the more obvious its failures become.
The United States is not producing submarines at anything like the rate required to meet its own needs, let alone provide any spares to Australia. Billions of Australian public dollars are being poured into the US submarine industrial base, yet the production gap remains.
The United Kingdom, meanwhile, is facing its own serious defence industry failures. Currently every single one of its attack-class nuclear submarines are in dock for repairs, while its nuclear industry is incapable of producing a new submarine reactor. This is the partnership Labor has locked Australia into: two countries that cannot reliably deliver what they have promised, while Australia carries the cost and the risk.
But the deeper problem with AUKUS is not just its practical failure. It is what it is designed to do.
These submarines are not about defending Australia. They are designed to project force thousands of kilometres from our shores and embed Australia in US military operations in the event of conflict with China. That is why the Albanese Government is building bases for the US including a submarine base near Perth, housing for foreign military personnel and contractors, and even additional federal police resources to protect those facilities.
AUKUS also means Australia is taking on the unresolved burden of high-level nuclear waste. Each nuclear-powered submarine contains hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium. It will be First Nations communities who are again leading the fight against this continent becoming a dumping ground for the most toxic waste on earth, defending us all from AUKUS.
At the same time, we are seeing a broader pattern from the Labor government: more secrecy, more deference to foreign military and corporate power, and more attacks on our rights.
Labor’s proposed expansion of ASIO’s secret questioning powers, which are expressly being expanded to cover defence matters, is a serious threat to civil liberties. These powers can already see people, including teenagers, detained and questioned in secret, with restrictions on what they can tell their families or communities afterwards. Expanding those powers further, including into vague areas such as “social cohesion” and “defence,” should alarm anyone who cares about democracy.
We are also seeing the rise of massive AI data centres, backed by multinational tech giants, consuming local water and energy while threatening jobs, creative work and community control. Again, Labor has failed to put proper rules in place, again to appease US interests.
Across these issues, the pattern is clear. Labor, the Coalition and One Nation are too often aligned: on AUKUS, on militarisation, on surveillance and on handing power to corporate interests.
That is why the Greens matter.
Our role is to expose what the major parties want hidden, use Parliament to force scrutiny, and work with communities to build the pressure needed to change course. Australia does not need to be dragged into someone else’s war. We do not need to sacrifice our rights in the name of security. We do not need to hand our future to the military, fossil fuel or tech giants.
We can choose something better: an independent foreign policy, a defensive military posture, strong civil liberties, climate justice and a democracy that puts people and communities first.
That is the work ahead of us, and it is work only the Greens are willing to do.