Okay for those so you are right to be suspicious. The purchase of these submarines is really alarming, not only because it’s going to cost so much, but because it locks Australia into a certain set of foreign policy values, the US right now, their stated goal is to contain and control China. This is our largest trading partner in the Pacific.
I think what’s really lost in this deal, though, is that, although the government is claiming that it will increase our defense capabilities, we will never control these submarines. These will be Australian flag submarines controlled completely by strategic command by the United States. So they now own a part of our Navy, which they can do what they like. In addition to that, because they’re nuclear submarines, we’re going to have to dispose of the waste, and it’s our responsibility under this pack to dispose of it. It’s unbelievable. And on top of that, the deal also includes the upgrading of existing US military bases, which will mean the highest concentration of US military personnel in Australia since the Second World War, right?
So, the highest concentration of military personnel in Australia since we are at war in the Pacific with Japan. When? When Queensland, when Brisbane was the headquarters of the Pacific Theater. So it’s not just a deal about submarines that, but between that and the continual operation of Pine Gap, it’s hard to see Australia as a sovereign nation at all anymore. A part of our you know, will be occupied by the Australian military, covered in US bases and part of our Navy will be adjunct to the American war machine. It’s a total disgrace.
The current AUKUS pact and the position of Australia and the and the UK and our allies will undoubtedly lead to Australia being dragged into a US led war in the Pacific with China. This is our backyard, and this will be the great conflict of the 21st century. The US and the UK will be safe in the knowledge that they don’t have to deal with it. It won’t be in their backyard. It’ll be in ours. It’ll be our problem. They’ll be safe at home on the other side of the world.
But in this disaster, there’s an opportunity. We have seen an increasingly erratic and unreliable United States, one that seems to have an ax to grind against the rest of the world. This is our opportunity to uncouple our relationship with that country. Australia cannot have a truly independent and peaceful foreign policy if we continue our military relationship with the United States, we must uncouple, and this is our opportunity. That is my time. But I’ll just leave you with this, no war, no nuclear subs, no AUKUS !Close Pine Gap! and Free Palestine! Thank you. Applause.
