Anthony Albanese has reiterated that Aukus is \u201cfull-steam ahead\u201d after the Greens renewed calls to cancel the nuclear-powered submarines deal, which the minor party warned could draw Australia into a potential US war with China.<\/p>\n
Debate over the security pact<\/a> has resurfaced after the announcement that Australia would buy secondhand<\/a> Virginia-class submarines from the US, rather than a mix of old and new vessels.<\/p>\n The Greens have seized on the development to re-prosecute the case for the government to abandon the multi-decade, $368bn agreement.<\/p>\n Appearing on ABC\u2019s Insiders program on Sunday, the Greens\u2019 defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said the focus of Australia\u2019s military assets should be on defending the nation\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n He suggested that could be done with conventional submarines and other weapons, rejecting the need for capabilities designed to operate \u201cthousands of thousands of kilometres from our shore\u201d \u2013 such as the nuclear-powered vessels.<\/p>\n Shoebridge said buying the Virginia-class submarines would make Australia an \u201cinteroperable\u201d part of the US military, drawing the country into a potential conflict with China.<\/p>\n \u201cNuclear submarines are pretty much a disaster on every front,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are we inviting ourselves to a US war with China by buying this weapons platforms and making our defence an interoperable part of the US?\u201d<\/p>\n Shoebridge said the greatest strategic threat facing the country was not China\u2019s military buildup or disruptions to key shipping lanes.<\/p>\n Rather, it was the risk of Canberra losing its sovereignty to Washington, as he said occurred with the revised deal to send three secondhand submarines to Australia.<\/p>\n The government this week insisted it was always its preference to buy so-called \u201cin-service\u201d Virginia-class submarines from the US, saving money on acquisition, maintenance and training costs.<\/p>\n Shoebridge said there was a still a window of opportunity for Australia to dump Aukus and buy conventionally armed submarines from countries such as Japan, South Korea or Sweden without leaving a capability cap after the retirement of the Collins-class<\/a> vessels.<\/p>\n He claimed the US was the world\u2019s least-reliable supplier of submarines given the slow rate of production from its shipyards.<\/p>\n Shoebridge\u2019s suggestion that Australia could acquire a different class of submarine appears to jar with the Greens\u2019 own defence policy, which proposes to axe \u201cunstrategic projects\u201d including the Collins-class program.<\/p>\n