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Open letter signed by 110 academics calls for Aukus rethink
Daniel Hurst
More than 100 Australian academics and scholars have called on the Albanese government to rethink its nuclear-powered submarine plan, arguing it is risky, expensive and will increase dependence on the US.
An open letter to the government, signed by 110 people, argues it is “imprudent to hitch Australia’s most expensive and lethal defence capability to an increasingly uncertain ally that is in relative decline, politically unstable, and exhibiting troubling signs of sliding into an illiberal democracy”.
The letter, coordinated by Macquarie University sessional academic Vince Scappatura, says:
Aukus will come at a huge financial cost and with great uncertainty of its success. It is likely to compound Australia’s strategic risks, heighten geopolitical tensions, and undermine efforts at nuclear nonproliferation.
It puts Australia at odds with our closest neighbours in the region, distracts us from addressing climate change, and risks increasing the threat of nuclear war.
Australia’s defence autonomy will only be further eroded because of Aukus. All of this will be done to support the primacy of an ally whose position in Asia is more fragile than commonly assumed, and whose domestic politics is increasingly unstable.
The letter – whose signatories include a former Australian ambassador, Richard Broinowski, and the Sydney Peace Foundation founder Stuart Rees – says Aukus “will equip Australia with a potent capability to strike Chinese naval forces close to their home ports and, in coalition with the US, play a frontline role in hunting China’s nuclear-armed submarine force and its second-strike nuclear deterrent capability”.
The signatories also include Peter Stanley, a former principal historian of the Australian War Memorial, and Albert Palazzo, a former director of war studies in the Australian Army Research Centre. The full list and letter can be found here.
Key events
On the Nine network Anthony Albanese doubled down on his Bruce Springsteen comparison for Narendra Modi:
It was a pretty extraordinary welcome last night. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, of course, I’ve seen him play there.
The difference is, I guess, that people were there chanting for Narendra Modi 12 hours in advance of the gig last night. It was a very warm welcome. The energy in the room was quite extraordinary.
That continued:
Q: So you don’t agree with him?
Birmingham:
Patricia, I’m not going to let you play those word games with me. I’ve outlined my approach-.
Q: I’m not trying to play word games. It’s a really big, big statement for him to say the idea of re-racialising Australia. You either agree or you disagree.
Birmingham:
Many people will have many things that are said during this debate. I hope that they are all said as respectfully and considered as possible. Peter made a long contribution as Leader in terms of his speech on this bill. Everybody is entitled to be able to go and read that, see it all in the context in which those arguments were put.
That interview also moved on to Peter Dutton’s claims that the voice would ‘re-racialise’ Australia.
Simon Birmingham was asked whether he agreed and said:
Well, I’m not going to spend my time between now and the referendum commenting on the comments of-.
Which was a very similar line Julian Leeser used yesterday when asked the same question on the same program. Leeser though stepped down from the shadow front bench so he could campaign for yes. Birmingham has not done that.
Q: It’s your leader though and it was his main- He’s not just- I’m going to politely push back a little bit here. You say not comment on the comments of people in this debate. He’s the leader of the Liberal Party. He is the Opposition Leader. It’s not just some bit player. He’s a really key person on your side of politics. He’s your leader and he says it will re-racialise Australia. Do you agree with him?
Birmingham:
Patricia, and I have outlined the approach I’m taking to this referendum and the campaign, and that’s the approach I’m going to stick to.
The transcript of Simon Birmingham’s interview with Patricia Karvelas on ABC RN Breakfast has landed in my inbox so I can bring you a bit more of what was said about whether India needs to be pressed for not condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine:
Q: India’s biggest supplier of weapons is Russia. The Deputy Prime Minister yesterday told me the government is confident that India is strategically aligned with Australia. Will you raise the issue of Russia with the Indian Prime Minister?
Birmingham:
I expect that and it will be a short discussion, I imagine that Peter Dutton and I will have. But it’s welcome that Prime Minister Modi is giving us that opportunity. We’ll be wanting to prioritise the areas of bilateral cooperation between Australia and India and how we pursue that. Of course, as part of a very contested global environment, Russia’s actions are reprehensible at present. There have been certain steps and statements made by India in terms of acknowledging the pressures there and engagement that’s been had in terms of their consideration of the situation in Ukraine and that’s to be welcomed. If we get the chance to encourage their consideration of those difficulties and support Ukraine, then I’m sure we will do so. But there are many topics on the list to encourage in terms of our bilateral relations.
Q: Yeah. Look, the reason I raise it is because the Opposition has been really very strong in saying that with China these issues should be raised and the question I keep hearing, particularly from listeners, is, well, why isn’t the same standard put on India? Do you understand that critique?
Birmingham:
Look, I can understand. I think almost all analysts would say China has a far greater influence over Russia than India would have in terms of their strategic support. It is between China and Russia that the commitment was made just prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, of friendship without limits. And I think it is within that sphere that it is right for the world to look to Beijing to play as strong a leadership role as it can to get Russia to cease its horrific invasion of Ukraine and the terrible outcomes that it’s having.
House of Reps prepares for marathon session
The House sitting will begin at 9am and there will be some House business – introduction of bills and some quick votes and then it is back to the referendum legislation.
That will go on until just before question time when the 90-second statements (better known as the airing of the grievances/MP amateur stand up) but the debate will start back up against just before 5pm and will go until about 10pm (with half an hour in there for the adjournment debate).
Fifty-one MPs have had their say. There are at least another 55 listed to speak.
Albanese says aged care homes are finding nurses: ‘90%-plus are ready to go’
Over on the Seven network, Anthony Albanese was asked about concerns the aged care sector was struggling to meet the government’s new staffing requirements:
We have provided massive injection of funds for that sector. For a government that presided over the debacle that was exposed by the aged care royal commission, where we had a mistreatment of our oldest Australians – who deserve respect and deserve to live their later years in dignity – who didn’t bother to implement the recommendations of the aged care royal commission, we make no apologies for implementing the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission that said that these things needed to happen in order for people to live with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
Older Australians built this country. They deserve to be looked after.
And the idea that putting a nurse into a nursing home, from my perspective, is something that – how is it that you have nursing homes without nurses in them? And one of the things that that will do as well, instead of people having to go off to an emergency department of a hospital, if they can get the care from a nurse, as an aged care resident, on the spot, then what you’ll see is less acute health issues arise.
And we are implementing it, overwhelmingly, 90%-plus are ready to go on that issue.
Daniel Hurst
Trade minister to meet Chinese commerce minister again
The trade minister, Don Farrell, is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart for the second time this month when they are both in the US for wider trade talks.
Farrell will fly to Detroit today and will be there until Saturday. He is going there to lead Australia’s delegations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) and the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (Ipef) meetings.
It is understood Farrell is likely to see the Chinese commerce minister, Wang Wentao, at the Apec meeting, just weeks after they met in person for the first time during the trade minister’s trip to Beijing. Apec’s 21 member economies account for 75% of Australia’s total trade in goods and services.
Farrell said in a statement:
Regional economic partnerships, such as APEC and IPEF demonstrate our willingness to collaborate on challenges confronting the global economy, such as supply chain resilience, the clean energy transition, building a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and ensuring that the international rules-based system is respected…
While in Detroit, I will also participate in the Australia-US Strategic Commercial Dialogue with US Secretary of Commerce, the Hon Gina M. Raimondo, to progress our common economic interests…
The Albanese government is committed to diversifying our trading relationships and delivering broader and stronger trade agreements for the benefit of Australian businesses and workers.
Albanese on India’s position regarding Ukraine
The interview on ABC News Breakfast moves on to India not condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Albanese says:
India is responsible for its own international relations and I respect that. We have very different histories. India has been a leader of the nonaligned movement for such a long period of time. India is a great supporter of peace and security and stability in our region. India participated in not just the G7 meeting that was held on the weekend, but the Quad leaders meeting is very important in building up that support for security stability, peace and prosperity in our region and the world. And at the G20 meeting that will be hosted in India later this year, I am sure, hopefully it will be resolved by then and Russia will recognise its mistake and withdraw before then. If not, I expect that there will be a similar statement to which there was at the G20 last year, to which India participated.
Q: The reason I ask is, in not condemning the invasion, India clearly is not respecting the rule of international law. If China was to invade Taiwan, are you concerned about where India would fall in that dispute?
Albanese:
You have just drawn a very long bow with, with respect. The truth is that India itself has been concerned about border skirmishes with China which have occurred on its border and India is a nation that does respect national sovereignty and national borders.
Q: But it refuses to criticise what Russia has done in inb reaching those borders by going into Ukraine?
Albanese:
Go and look at the G20 statement from last year, with respect. India was a party to that and India’s incoming chair of the G20 will play a very important role and …
(There is cross talk and because of the delay between the studio and where Albanese is, the pair decide to leave it)
‘What I don’t do is leak text messages with other world leaders’
Will Anthony Albanese raise the human rights breaches that have advocates concerned with Narendra Modi?
Albanese (with a dig at Scott Morrison)
One of the things that I do is engage with people on a one-on-one basis. I do that consistently. What I don’t do is leak text messages with other world leaders. I have a respectful relationship with Prime Minister Modi and with other leaders.
Albanese stresses economic and education ties
Anthony Albanese however, wants to concentrate on those Es Modi mentioned.
What does he want out of today’s meeting?
Building our economic relationship. We want to upgrade the economic cooperation agreement between Australia and India. We are hoping to conclude that by the end of the year.
Today we will talk about specific areas where we can cooperate on areas like green hydrogen, in particular, we that will be on the agenda but also the education relationship between our two countries, the Deakin University will open as the first foreign university in India in Gujarat very soon and after that, Wollongong University are going to establish what will be the second foreign university in India later on.
We have a very important relationship, we know India will grow to be the third largest economy in the world in coming years.
It is already the most populous nation in the world and the cooperation that we have across defence and security, across the economy, across society and culture and education is a real opportunity for Australia and India to both benefit from increased cooperation and mutually beneficial arrangements.
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