Aukus fallout: as US-China tensions grow, Australians reveal mixed feelings about nuclear submarine pact

Surveys reveal concerns that Aukus won’t make Australia safer, while fears grow of ‘secretive policymaking and little government accountability’

Some observers have also questioned the high cost of Aukus to taxpayers, suggesting there are other, less expensive ways to ‘deter China’

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A series of polls and surveys has revealed complex, diverging sentiment across Australians about the country’s current geopolitical climate, as US-China tensions grow. Photo: dpa

Published: 8:30am, 12 Feb 2023

Is Australia becoming “more dependent” on the United States following the signing of the Aukus pact, or will the alliance make the country a safer place?

The results of different surveys about the trilateral partnership have revealed a complex set of sentiments among Australians about the country’s current geopolitical climate, as US-China tensions grow.

Announced in September 2021, the pact aims to deepen security and defence cooperation between Britain, the US and Australia, with the latter to receive eight new nuclear-powered submarines worth about A$170 billion (US$182.5 billion) to replace its ageing fleet.

The deal is back in focus amid media reports that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may unveil Canberra’s preferences regarding the submarines during a meeting with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in March.

Two Australian Collins-class diesel-powered submarines docked in front of a British nuclear-powered attack submarine in Perth. Photo: EPA-EFE

According to a report last year by the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN), the Aukus alliance would make Australia “even more dependent on the US and less extricable from its wars”.

IPAN – made up of peace, faith and environmental groups, as well as trade unions – said after their little-known report that the agreement had led to “increased militarisation of our society, increased defence expenditure and arms exports, secretive policymaking and little government accountability”.