Shadow foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has expressed support for Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS, including a move to spend $5 billion to help expand Britain’s production of nuclear reactors.
Birmingham, who was part of cabinet’s National Security Committee when the government decided to participate in AUKUS, said Canberra knew that forming the trilateral security partnership with the UK and US would involve “difficult decisions” about the nation’s industrial capabilities.
The opposition’s shadow foreign affairs spokesman, Senator Simon Birmingham. Alex Ellinghausen
“We knew at that time that it involves some difficult decisions in terms of changing course at that stage and in terms of the scale of industrial capabilities that we would have to establish in Australia, as well as to be able to do things such as securing the nuclear reactors from the UK,” he said on Sky News.
“These are all the consequential steps from that decision, and we’re pleased to see them being taken.”
Birmingham justified the Albanese government’s decision to spend $5 billion on British production lines, saying it was part of a procurement process that would ensure Australia had the nuclear reactors necessary to power its submarines.
“Under other procurement models, other decisions, such as the previous options around submarines, they all involved different scenarios with different companies from other countries and involved money that would have been spent in those countries,” he said.
“This is about getting the best technology that can give our navy the best capabilities to have submarines that won’t be able to be detected easily into the future.”
