Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

YNOLDS () (): It is true today, as it has always been, that there is no democracy for any of us without both peace and prosperity, and the maintenance of both peace and prosperity is not a task for one country alone. Our nation's security and our prosperity, and also our peace, have always relied on supporting others in their time of need, and also on other nations supporting us in our times of need and in times of war.

For over 100 years—122 years, in fact—there has been a debate that has raged in this nation about our nation's strategic policy, from our reliance on imperial forces through to our reliance on the United States, in particular, and other allies. The debate then shifted between what's called continental defence—the defence of Australia—which was a predominant strategic objective here in Australia under Labor and after the Vietnam War, and the internationalist approach, with its expeditionary and collaborative defence, which we have inevitably moved back to because we all realise that no one nation has ever done it alone and no one nation can do it alone.

I'm very proud of the AUKUS agreement that was struck and also the first project, the nuclear submarine project, because, as defence minister, I initiated that with Scott Morrison, including the possibility of moving to nuclear powered submarines in collaboration with the Americans and with the British. I'm delighted to see that that has now come to fruition on a bipartisan basis. As Senator Fawcett said, AUKUS is so much more than nuclear submarines. AUKUS is all about us working together, combining our industrial military bases through the NTIB arrangements and through better ITAR arrangements, so that we can work together with those who are our friends and allies and those who we trust and can operate with. The AUKUS agreement is with the United States and United Kingdom, but, when we were in government—and it's still the case under the new government—there were many other nations that we were talking to in terms of new arrangements.

It is a stark fact that the world that we knew post World War II has gone. There are nations now who do not adhere in any way to rules based order under the economic and security constructs that were set up after World War II, and that necessitates a new way of working with our allies. It also requires this new government to clarify, when they put out the Defence strategic review, that they fully understand the implications of AUKUS and also this new submarines deal, because the minister's talked about porcupine defence, which is continental defence that's now associated with Taiwan, and that's a very different circumstance to what we face here in terms of the defence of Australia. The submarines can be used for the defence of Australia in terms of our sea lanes, but they are so much more than that, and AUKUS is so much more than that.

Labor is clearly divided on the way forward on this, with Paul Keating's comments last week. He is clearly still a proponent of the defence of Australia strategy, and I'm sure that still has resonance in the government benches. But make no mistake: by committing to AUKUS and by committing to the new submarines, this government has, I think very wisely, committed itself to an expeditionary form of defence of Australia, to an internationalist approach and to a collaborative approach, which, clearly, Paul Keating and others are not yet agreeable to. In the Defence strategic review, it is critically important that this government confirm the strategic underpinnings, because, if they are not committed to this and to the methods that are now needed domestically to deliver this, then it will spell disaster for our nation. (Time expired)