By Dr John Bruni and CDRE Pat Tyrrell OBE RN (Ret’d)*
For all the fanfare surrounding the announcement of AUKUS in September 2021, there are many questions left to answer. For Australia to get the most out of the trilateral security pact decisive steps must be taken immediately.
As Australia’s new Minister of Defence Richard Marles soon learned after inheriting the portfolio from Peter Dutton, AUKUS was essentially a political tool to help win the Liberal-National Coalition the 2022 Federal Election based on “national security.” It was never a well-thought-out plan to ink a new multipurpose trilateral security arrangement or acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
