Senator David Shoebridge, the Greens’ defence spokesperson, has criticised the $375 billion investment in nuclear submarines under AUKUS, suggesting a new Australian defence path and advocating for free dental as part of Medicare, along with measures to address the climate crisis.
Senator Shoebridge says the proposed nuclear submarines are not designed for Australian defence but would be part of the US fleet to project force against China. He says Australia needs its own, independent defence strategy, and is calling for the release of a report on climate change’s security risks.
In an interview with Mia Armitage, speaking in the seat of Richmond, Shoebridge said ‘Labor loves AUKUS primarily because it ties them to the United States [but] these nuclear submarines are not designed to be used by Australia to defend Australia. They’re designed as a small part of a US fleet to project force against China.’
He said Australia is unlikely to see second-hand nuclear submarines in the 2030s, and ‘we’ll never be able to supply nuclear reactors for a mythical AUKUS submarine… the Greens recognise that AUKUS is a major strategic, social and international blunder, and we see a different path, an independent Australia that distances ourselves from the United States military and doesn’t want to go down a path of war with China.’
So how would the Greens envision Australia’s place in in the world when it comes to military alliances? ‘Millions of Australians are seeing an erratic, aggressive Trump administration, seeing them abandon their NATO allies,’ said Senator Shoebridge.
‘When he put a 10 per cent tariff on Australia, he put a zero tariff on on Vladimir Putin and Russia, despite having billions of dollars in trade with Russia. I think many people see that the United States is not our long term strategic friend.
‘The United States will do what’s in the interests of the United States,’ he said. ‘Australia has a developed, advanced economy with more than sufficient capacity to create a credible military to defend Australia but not threaten our neighbours and not join in the next US war, wherever Donald Trump or son of Trump wants to send us.’
Independent path
‘We should have some faith in our own capacity to chart our own independent path in this region,’ said Senator Shoebridge.
‘We live in one of the most geopolitically benign parts of the planet. Here in Oceania, it’s well within Australia’s capacity to chart an independent, peaceful approach to our neighbours, which will which will keep us secure, which will disentangle us from Donald Trump, and which will mean we don’t spend hundreds of billions of dollars on Labor’s nuclear submarines.’
So how far are the Greens prepared to take this new approach to defense relations with the United States, if they had the have the opportunity? Would Pine Gap be on the table?
‘The Greens are very clear that Pine Gap is basically a foreign military installation in the center of Australia, which Australia has no control over. There are very real concerns that it’s been used by the US and Israeli military in the war on Gaza. There are very real concerns it’s part of a US nuclear weapons program which is potentially catastrophic for this planet.
‘But there are more immediate concerns that add to that. Labor has committed $1.6 billion of Australian taxpayers money to build a US nuclear submarine attack base just off Perth to house five US nuclear attack submarines.
‘I don’t think they’ve told the public that they want to spend $1.6 billion of Australian taxpayers money to build yet another US base in Australia, and we know that will not make us safe. Many experts say that that actually makes Perth and Fremantle a potential nuclear target.
‘This is not making us safer. Donald Trump is not going to come running to our rescue.’
AUKUS
Regarding AUKUS, Senator Shoebridge says there should be credible independent scrutiny of the proposal.
‘What is remarkable is that the Morrison government entered into AUKUS and the Labor then-opposition neatly followed, without ever having a parliamentary debate, without ever having a critical case study, either presented to Cabinet or presented to the Parliament. Maybe we should be looking for a more independent Australia?’ he suggests.
‘Maybe we should be looking to engage with our region, not as a little loyal lieutenant of the United States, but as a nation proud of its own future, proud of its own capacity, and be creating a military that is credibly designed to defend Australia, which is well within our capacity, without the United States, and not threaten our neighbors. That’s a future that we think Australia desperately needs to tackle.’
What should the AUKUS money be used for?
‘We can cancel AUKUS and significantly reduce our defense budget, and invest a small proportion of those savings.
‘We’ve recommended $4 billion over the next four years to be invested in equipment designed to defend Australia, such as uncrewed aerial and maritime vehicles, such as a credible missile defense system for Australia, but invest that $4 billion of the more than $75 billions we save in equipment that our neighbors will see is designed to create a credible defense for Australia, echidna-style, but not be out there to threaten our neighbors.
‘We don’t need to wrap our arms around the legs of some great and powerful friend from outside our region, whether it’s the United States or the UK or France. Australia has the capacity to credibly defend ourselves, provided we’re not trying to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to project power thousands of kilometers from our shorea as part of a US force to go to war with China.
‘We really do need to change our thinking and also say to Australians, you don’t have to be frightened like Labor and the Coalition. They want us to be frightened and fearfully running, to be dependent on some other great power,’ he said.
‘Let’s have some faith in Australia. Let’s have some faith in our ability to engage in the region. And that’s what the Greens are offering, as the only party offering an alternative to AUKUS.’
Climate change
Along with other Greens and independents in the federal parliament, Senator David Shoebridge is also calling for the public release of a government report into the potential potential risks of climate change to Australia’s national security.
‘Yes, there was a commitment Labor took to the last election to create a high level but detailed analysis of the security risks from climate change. Not only am I calling for the release of this report as the Greens defense spokespersonm the former chief of the Defence Force, Chris Barry, has joined with us in calling to release that report, or an edited version of the report, so the public can see where our real security risks lie.
‘The security implications from climate change include destabilising of the countries in our region, leading potentially to uncontrolled migration flows, and security implications from fighting for increasingly scarce resources including water and food. That’s what Australia should be tackling. We should be tackling that security crisis by keeping coal and gas in our ground, working with our regional neighbors to increase their climate resilience.
‘The government should release this report,’ he said. ‘We won’t be gagged by Labor… our greatest security risk is not dealing with climate.’
Collaboration
With the relationship between the Greens and Labor clearly not becoming any more harmonious, what confidence can the Australian public have that if we end up with a minority government, that it’s going to be an effective government, and that our national security in particular, is going to be robust?
‘We collaborate with the ALP government, where we share common values,’ said Senator Shoebridge.
‘We don’t share common values on buying nuclear submarines, and we’re not going to be collaborating with the Labor government to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AUKUS nuclear submarines, and we will be unashamedly using our power in the parliament to get this potentially future minority Labor government to address the climate crisis.
‘Greens won’t be voting to open up new coal mines, we won’t be voting to expand the fossil fuel industry – our support amongst the electorate is growing based upon that platform – but we’re here to work cooperatively with Labor.
‘We have a long contest with Labor over public housing, and we forced Labor to add three and a half billion dollars to public housing, and we voted through the package once we saw those real and credible changes for people who don’t have a home in this country.
‘We’ve said to Labor time and time again, work with us on making this country a fairer and safer place,’ said Senator Shoebridge.
‘We will not join with them to water down our environmental policies, but we say to Labor, there’s a different path. They don’t have to keep choosing Peter Dutton and his attack on migrants, his spending on AUKUS submarines or his extinction policies.
‘A minority government is the best chance to chart that path.’
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