Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister: why is it important for Australia to acquire conventionally armed nuclear powered submarines through the AUKUS partnership?

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her deep commitment to defence. Last Monday's AUKUS announcement represents one of the most significant decisions an Australian government has ever made. It is probably the single biggest leap in military capability in our history, and Australia will become just the seventh country in the world to operate nuclear powered submarines. Why Australia needs to operate long-range submarines can be seen from the most cursory glance at our geography. We have long trading routes which connect us to the world, and that trade has grown. In 1990, trade represented about 32 per cent of our GDP; by 2020 it was 45 per cent of our GDP. One practical example of what that means is in the 1990s we had eight oil refineries producing most of our petrol onshore; today with only two oil refineries we import most of our petrol from overseas. Indeed, we import most of it from just one country.

So Australia has always needed a long-range submarine capability, and the Collins class has been and continues to be a highly effective capability. But even as we seek to evolve it and extend its life, the fact is that every few days it is required to surface in order to recharge its batteries, an act which in the 2030s will become increasingly detectable. That means the capability will be increasingly diminished. Right there is why we need in the future a nuclear powered submarine capability which can have submarines on task for months at a time. Obviously this capability has the capacity to operate during a conflict, but its true intent is to provide for the peace and the stability of our region, because the defence of Australia doesn't really mean that much without the collective security of our region and the maintenance of the rules based order upon which we increasingly depend.

Over the last few months and particularly over the last few weeks we've been engaged in an intensive effort in explaining our strategic intent to our neighbours in the Pacific and in South-East Asia, and since our announcement on Monday their reaction demonstrates the genuine appreciation they have for the transparency we have shown but also an understanding of why Australia are making the decision we are, because at the end of the day Australia's future nuclear powered submarines represent our contribution to the peace and stability of our region and the world.