Since the AUKUS deal was signed in 2021  _Pearls and Irritations_ has led a high-profile debate on the $368 billion deal, questioning whether it serves our interests. This week we saw a significant turning point. An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald calls on the Australian Government to follow the UK lead, and launch an inquiry into the deal. Below is the full text of the e_ditorial._ 

Trump’s chaos makes an Australian inquiry into AUKUS common sense

Australia could do well to follow Britain’s lead and conduct our own inquiry into the AUKUS nuclear submarines deal.

As President Donald Trump’s impetuous realpolitik shatters old assumptions, the House of Commons’ Defence Committee has launched an inquiry into the trilateral security partnership between the UKm the US and Australia.

It will evaluate if the program, which will cost Australian taxpayers $368 billion over the next 30 years, remains on track. It will also consider the impact of global geopolitical shifts since the deal was signed in 2021.

The two-pillar AUKUS agreement enables the UK and the US to transfer submarine-specific material and equipment for Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines. The House of Commons inquiry will investigate if the first pillar remains on track to deliver against the timelines and objectives set out in the 2023 Joint Leaders Statement on AUKUS. The second pillar facilitates broader co-operation on cutting-edge technological advancements, including artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, and the committee will look at whether there is sufficient clarity about how this pillar will be delivered.

The Defence Committee chair Tan Dhesi said AUKUS was a vital partnership for the UK and brought two of its longstanding allies even closer together in their defence co-operation, while pointing out the strategic importance of our area to the new world order. “The Indo-Pacific is an area of key strategic importance and ensuring its safety and security is paramount,” he said.

The House of Commons inquiry follows the release last October of a  US Congressional Research Service report that found America’s boat-building program was behind schedule and nowhere near being able to supply Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarines on time.

In a calmer time, a 2017 foreign policy white paper set out a number of objectives of fundamental importance to Australian security and prosperity that included ensuring Australians remain safe, secure and free in the face of threats such as terrorism, and stepping up support for a more resilient Pacific.

But the world has certainly changed since the AUKUS deal was inked four years later and amid new fears former prime minister  Malcolm Turnbull is not the only voice warning of sovereignty and security issues caused by Trump’s ill-thought-through policies intertwining with AUKUS.

Trump has distanced his nation from NATO allies, which complicates the AUKUS arrangement with Great Britain and by implication, Australia. And his conflation of tariffs with defence has not only confused us, but his fellow Americans as well, as evidenced by Democratic senator Mark Warner’s comments to a Senate finance committee hearing in the US on Tuesday that tariffs were insulting to Australia and undermined AUKUS.

When such a once-reliable ally as the US no longer seems so reliable, it is surely worth following the common sense of the House of Commons and taking a look at AUKUS. Given the huge amount of money involved and the implications of Trump’s rancid patrimonialism, there is nothing wrong with renewed oversight.

Republished from The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 April