Former Labor minister Peter Garrett says a public inquiry into AUKUS is long overdue. Photo: Screenshot.
An independent public inquiry to look into Australia’s commitment to buy nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS Pillar I construct with the US and UK will commence today (3 June) in Canberra.
The inquiry is being led by former Labor minister and Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, and includes fellow commissioners former WA Labor premier and federal Labor minister Dr Carmen Lawrence, former Chief of Navy and Chief of Defence Force Admiral Chris Barrie (Ret’d), the co-CEO of the Australia Institute Leanne Minshull, and Yankunytjatjara woman Karina Lester.
The inquiry is an initiative of the Australian Peace and Security Forum and has been partly crowdfunded to the tune of more than $26,000 as of the morning of 3 June. But it also has the support of a number of organisations including the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network, the Australian Conservation Foundation, ICAN Australia, the Sydney Peace Foundation, and Australians for War Powers Reform.
Several labour organisations have also supported the inquiry, including the Maritime Union of Australia, the Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Education Union, and the South Coast Labour Council which also voiced its concerns in mid-May over reports Port Kembla is the favoured location for an east coast submarine base.
Some of the inquiry’s scope and objectives include an assessment on whether nuclear-powered submarines will keep Australians more secure; the implications of Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for regional peace and security; assessing the economic, technological, and employment effects of AUKUS-related initiatives; and assessing the environmental, health, and safety consequences of nuclear technology and waste management.
The inquiry also hopes to generate broader public awareness of AUKUS; to understand possible cost-effective alternatives to nuclear-powered submarines; and to determine the likelihood of AUKUS submarines being delivered on time and on budget.
Through the inquiry, the commissioners are inviting written and oral submissions from individuals, organisations, experts, and communities. It says it will hold public hearings in capital cities and impacted regional centres such as Fremantle, Port Kembla and other locations considered necessary, and will review relevant literature, government documents, and expert reports.
In a 2 June statement, Peter Garrett said a public inquiry into AUKUS was “long overdue”.
“AUKUS is by far the most expensive and complex undertaking ever entered into by any Australian government and yet the opportunity to question, debate and decide has been taken out of the hands of the parliament and the people,” he said.
Dr Lawrence said a basic requirement of any functioning democracy was transparency from government.
“It is simply not credible that the Federal Government can take nearly $400 billion from the Australian people, make private deals with US technology companies and foreign governments to access the Australian mainland and our data, and then tell us not to ask questions.
“Australians would never accept that, and nor should we,” she said. “That’s why this inquiry is vital.”
The inclusion of several labour organisations in supporting the inquiry follows concerns about AUKUS raised by former Labor prime minister and treasurer Paul Keating, senator Doug Cameron and science minister Kim Carr in recent years.
And with news over the weekend that Australia will now buy three secondhand Virginia-class submarines from the US Navy instead of at least one new boat, and reports of growing disquiet in caucus, former frontbencher and current Labor Member for Chifley Ed Husic has also openly questioned the plan.
“We need to be open as a nation that we are not going to get the deal that was promised to us,” Husic told media on 2 June.
“There’s an issue … confronting us, about whether or not we will even get the new deal that has been put to us based on what’s happening in the US.
“Given how transactional the Trump administration is, you can almost imagine them saying, ‘We give you these, you will do this with them’, and so there’s an active sovereignty question there,” he added.
“It won’t be a renegotiation; it’s a reality about the production rates and whether or not we’ll get them. What’s the contingency? What’s the plan B?”
Opposition Defence Spokesman Senator James Patterson has described it as a “full-on Labor revolt” over Australia’s defence policy.
“The Labor backbencher Ed Husic’s call today for a caucus vote on the future of AUKUS is a direct challenge to the authority of the Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles,” he said.
“It’s a result of Labor’s mismanagement of the delivery of AUKUS.
“It’s prominent former Labor figures like former cabinet ministers, Peter Garrett, Carmen Lawrence, it is former Labor prime ministers like Paul Keating, it’s key Labor unions, it’s Labor branches,” he added.
“It’s very clear that the Labor grassroots is questioning this government’s ability to deliver AUKUS and even going as far as to question whether or not we should proceed with AUKUS at all.”
Over on the Crossbench there is also support for the inquiry, with Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender raising the issue in parliament as a matter of public importance on 2 June, and Member for Kooyong Monique Ryan, Member for Curtin Kate Chaney, Member for Bradfield Nicolette Boele, Member for Warringah Zali Steggall, Member for Mackellar Sophie Scamps, and Member for Fowler Dai Le all calling for greater scrutiny and transparency of the AUKUS deal.
