Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Defence Trade Controls Amendment Bill 2024, as part of a suite of AUKUS related legislation by the Albanese government, is intended to align Australia's scientific community, national security controls and military with the United States of America. This is a precondition for Australia to receive nuclear submarines under AUKUS Pillar I and to have greater access to US military technology under AUKUS Pillar II. In short, the bill is intended to make it easier to exchange scientific ideas and technology with the US and the United Kingdom while putting in place fresh barriers for these exchanges with everyone else on this planet. As the House of Commons research library says and is quoted in Senator Shoebridge's dissenting report to this legislation:

A key part of the AUKUS agreement is the pledge contained in the initial leaders' statement to deepen defence ties and enhance joint capabilities and interoperability between all three countries. This includes developing a range of advanced military capabilities that are collectively known as AUKUS pillar 2 activities …

Now, late last year, US Congress passed legislation that exempts Australia and Britain from some of the stringent export control requirements under the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations—what's known as ITAR—scheme but only on the condition that both countries implement similarly stringent export control laws domestically. This bill is intended as Australia's response to this demand from Washington. The bill should be rejected in full. It's been rushed through despite significant concerns from businesses and academia. Senator Shoebridge earlier showed me the nine pages of substantive amendments—not second readers—for the committee stage just from the government. I'm not sure I've seen nine pages of amendments for a piece of a government's own legislation before. It certainly suggests that this has been rushed. It fails to address the existing very real issues with the Australian defence export regime and will have devastating impacts on the Australian research and technology sector if passed without radical changes.

To be clear, the Australian Greens join with thousands of academics and many in the nation's advanced manufacturing and research sector not to support the recommendation in the interim report that the Defence Capability Assurance and Oversight Bill 2024 be passed. In a moment of general political irony, this bill, which is touted as part of Australia's national security response to a less certain world, will, in fact, make Australia less safe and will stunt academic and economic growth.

Here are a couple of additional key points. Very simply, this is part of AUKUS related legislation to ensure Australia's military export system is aligned with the United States. It will cut Australia off from the rest of the world and tie us to the United States of America. I want to come back to that point shortly given some of the storm clouds brewing in the United States at the moment. This is a precondition for Australia to receive nuclear submarines—in itself a very controversial issue here in Australia. This bill will effectively create an export-free licence bubble between the US and the UK. However, it also means Australia will be effectively cut off from the rest of the world, with harsher and expanded restrictions on working with people outside what we call the Anglo bubble. If this bill passes in its current state, researchers and businesses working with people from countries like South Korea or India on technology or research that is dual use would have to stop, get approval from the minister or risk 10 years imprisonment. Industry and the higher education sector have raised real concerns, as I mentioned, and this bill will lead them to apply for thousands new permits to do basic new research and product development. This bill has drawn widespread criticism, as the bill risks creating a significant disincentive for most of the world to work with Australian researchers and trade critical technology.

The Defence Amendment (Safeguarding Australia's Military Secrets) Bill 2024, specifically, seeks to introduce harsher punishments and more ministerial powers to punish ADF personnel who train or work with certain foreign militaries and government entities. It is already illegal for defence personnel to disclose military secrets; however, this will require defence personnel and public servants to obtain authorisation before working for another government entity. I note that Five Eyes nations are not included in that.

It's all part of a push to integrate regulation with the United States as part of the AUKUS and concerns over Australia not being able to keep its nuclear secrets. So we are getting told what legislation to pass and when from Washington. Both bills are needed for the US to allow AUKUS to proceed, and they are designed to integrate Australian regulation with US regulation. That is plain and simple to see. But AUKUS is sinking, and, if the ALP and coalition continue down this path, we're all going to sink with it. The Albanese government is making Australia the US's 51st state, turning the country into an arm of the US military.

We will likely not even get Australian owned nuclear submarines, but Australia will spend $365 billion, destabilise the region, become a parking lot and dumping ground for US and UK nuclear submarines, and paint a big target on ourselves. I note I bumped into the ex-member for Fremantle this morning in the coffee shop, Melissa Parke, who's here in parliament today and has an event on tonight to talk about antinuclear prohibition. I know there are a lot of people in this building that are still very concerned that we're not doing enough to phase out the nuclear weapons, and here we are buying nuclear submarines.

The Albanese Labor government has already promised to give nearly $10 billion to the US and UK militaries as part of AUKUS. We are literally funnelling Australian public funds into foreign military industries. The $4.7 billion going to US submarine manufacturing is not just for conventionally armed submarines but also to train and equip the workforce to make nuclear armed submarines. Eighty per cent of Australians don't want our primary ally to be the United States of America; AUKUS ensures this will happen. It locks us into this. AUKUS stops us from engaging with the world independently. The US and UK see Australia as a sucker who will give their militaries money and allow them to keep their nuclear submarines here—half parking lot, half nuclear dump—under the guise of AUKUS.

I'm sure I'm not the only member of parliament who woke up on 7 January a few years ago to see people being shot inside a senate chamber in the United States with a full-scale insurrection following the democratic result that elected President Joe Biden to the presidency. We've seen a growing storm cloud over US politics as Donald Trump is running again for the presidency. We've seen comments in recent weeks that he's made about throwing out the Australian Ambassador to the United States—