Dutton and Morrison take credit for AUKUS deal

Coalition politicians have been eager to take credit for the AUKUS submarine deal unveiled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday. 

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was silent for several hours after Albanese announced the “historic” acquisition of nuclear-powered subs at a naval base in California alongside US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. But when he finally reacted in a statement just before lunch, the first sentence noted the submarine deal was “the next step in the AUKUS partnership established by the Coalition government in 2021”.

“The concept of AUKUS was first conceived by prime minister Morrison in 2019 with the development process commenced in 2020,” he said, in a statement co-signed by his foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham and defence spokesman Andrew Hastie.

“Today’s announcement is an endorsement of the Coalition’s decision to pursue the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. It affirms the Coalition’s defence and national security strategy by enshrining the AUKUS partnership as the centrepiece of our nation’s defence.”

Scott Morrison himself made a rare appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 program. 

“This has been described as your secret brainchild. Will history record Scott Morrison as the father of AUKUS?” host Sarah Ferguson asked. 

“It may well, but that’s really not the point,” Morrison replied. “Today is an important day and a very exciting day for Australia and the whole region. I’m very proud of our country and the steps we’re taking, and I’m very pleased the new government has followed through on what was agreed between Boris Johnson, myself and Joe Biden.

“That’s what they were tasked to do, and that’s what they’ve done.” 

Morrison’s announcement in 2021 that he had planned a new defence partnership with the US and the UK came as a surprise to the public. The deal had been hashed out in secret with even senior Australian diplomats and cabinet ministers kept in the dark. Morrison called it “the best-kept ­secret in Australian history since World War II” in an interview with The Australian at the weekend.

Shortly after Morrison announced the deal, a poll found 62% of respondents believed Australia was correct to pursue it, according to Guardian Australia. 

However, 55% believed the agreement would inflame relations with China. 

A December 2022 Lowy Institute poll of views on Australia’s alliance with the US in general found 77% agreed with the statement that the pact “makes it more likely Australia will be drawn into a war in Asia that would not be in Australia’s interest”.

The Greens’ defence spokesman and vocal critic of the deal Senator David Shoebridge said it made sense for the Coalition to seek credit. 

“It’s no wonder that the likes of Dutton and Morrison are coming out and seeking to claim it because, in truth, it’s their policy,” he told Crikey. “This is the Labor Party truly surrendering any initiative in this space to the hard right of the Coalition.”

Shoebridge believes the majority of the public would be against a deal that would “come at the cost of cuts to Medicare, the NDIS and aged care” and would have the possibility of escalating regional tensions. 

“This is popular within the circle of defence hawks and chest-beating politicians in Canberra, and it’s popular with global defence contractors,” he said. “But the majority of the Australian public wants the government to deescalate and to avoid war.”