The Albanese government has requested formal talks with the global nuclear watchdog to allay any concerns Aukus could lead to undeclared nuclear activities in Australia or the diversion of enriched uranium. The government has also invited senior officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit Australia this year, attempting to head off a fresh campaign from China, which urged the body not to fall for “high-sounding rhetoric”. The Aukus submarine arrangement is novel because it will be the first time a provision of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been…
Tag: Australian foreign policy
Australia news live: Victorian energy prices to jump almost a third as Bowen calls on Coalition to ‘look in the mirror’
From 1h ago Chris Bowen throws back to Coalition on energy price rises The energy minister is borrowing a turn of phrase out of Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech when asked about the Coalition’s suggestion that capping coal and gas prices will, in the longer run, increase prices. Chris Bowen: I invite the Coalition to have a look in the mirror. I mean, he had the independent energy regulator this morning pointing out that without the intervention, the price rises would have been closer to 50%. An intervention that Mr Dutton…
Penny Wong hits back at China’s claim Aukus nuclear submarines will fuel an arms race
The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has hit back at China’s response to Aukus, insisting that its criticisms of the nuclear-powered submarine deal are “not grounded in fact”. In an interview with Guardian Australia, Wong also signalled that she planned to make further visits to south-east Asia and the Pacific to reassure the region that Australia does not seek to escalate military tensions. After the announcement of a multi-decade plan that could cost as much as $368bn between now and the mid-2050s, Wong said no rational observer could conclude…
What is the Aukus submarine deal and what does it mean? – the key facts
In a tripartite deal with the US and the UK, Australia has unveiled a plan to acquire a fleet of up to eight nuclear-powered submarines, forecast to cost up to $368bn between now and the mid-2050s. Australia will spend $9bn over the next four years. From this year Australian military and civilian personnel will embed with US and UK navies, including within both countries’ submarine industrial bases. From 2027 the UK and the US plan to rotate their nuclear-powered submarines through HMAS Stirling near Perth as part of a push…
Aukus will bolster stability in the Asia-Pacific, not undermine it | John Blaxland
Prime minister Anthony Albanese is set to commit Australia to the biggest national industrial redevelopment project since the Snowy Hydro electricity scheme and the British-Australian nuclear weapons research collaboration of the 1950s. The project involves considerable risk. Spanning three nations (each with multiple jurisdictions) over two or more decades, including the governments of multiple presidents and prime ministers in three countries. This seems inconceivably difficult on one level – were it not for the galvanising effects of: the rise of an increasingly authoritarian and adversarial China; the fallout from Brexit,…
Drawing closer to US while seeking warmer China ties leaves Australia with a tough balancing act
There was a moment in federal parliament this week when the seriousness of the looming Aukus announcement seemed to dawn on the defence minister, Richard Marles. “It is difficult to overstate the step that, as a nation, we are about to take,” Marles, in the acting prime minister’s chair, solemnly told the chamber on Thursday. “Australia will become just the seventh country to have the ability to operate a nuclear-powered submarine. We have never operated a military capability at this level before.” The statement may not have been intended to…
Speed, stealth and firepower’: the submarines that redfine Australia’s ‘strategic personality’
In a nondescript office building in Canberra, hundreds of officials have spent months fine-tuning highly secretive plans for Australia to become just the seventh country in the world to have nuclear-powered submarines. The clocks on the walls show three times – Canberra, London and Washington – reflecting the fact Australia is depending on the United Kingdom and the United States to achieve what V Adm Jonathan Mead calls “a generational challenge” that will “redefine Australia’s strategic personality”. Even towards the end of the planning process, eight or nine working groups…
Media hype of war with China forgets the impact on Australian society | Yun Jiang
Much ink has been spilled in Australia on war scenarios with China. Some experts claim that unless Australia takes action now, a war with China will be inevitable in three years. This type of commentary and analysis inflates the role Australia plays in deterring China while underselling the roles other countries in the region play. In addition, only military aspects of war are usually considered while the economic and social consequences are ignored. In much of the media reporting in Australia, the world comprises only three countries – China, Australia…
Scott Morrison says he ran out of time to impose sanctions on China over human rights
The former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has defended his failure to introduce sanctions against Chinese officials over human rights abuses, saying he ran out of time before his election loss. His comments to a conference in Tokyo on Friday prompted the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, to declare: “I’m not sure how much advice it would be sensible to take from Mr Morrison on foreign policy.” Wong was responding to Morrison’s suggestion that Australia should “demand and expect” an end to China’s tariffs and bans against a range…
Australia news live: Albanese says he has confidence in Philip Lowe, Perrottet backs ban on gay conversion practices
From 48m ago Perrottet backs ban on gay conversion practices Tamsin Rose New South Wales is a step closer to banning so-called gay conversion therapy after the premier, Dominic Perrottet, said he would support legislation to end the damaging practices. He said: There is no room for any harmful practices in NSW, particularly if they affect our young and vulnerable. When the parliament returns, my government will provide in principle support for legislation that brings an end to any harmful practices. This is a complex matter and in working through…