AUKUS: Is This Nuclear Sub Deal Worth It?

It has been all over the news that Australia is buying nuclear submarines.

The submarines are set to be world-leading, with Australia becoming only the seventh country in the world to have them, but the country will have to wait at least a decade for them.

The AUKUS plan may cost Australia an astronomical price of around $368 billion over the next 30 years.

Is this nuclear sub-deal worth it? Should the government use the money to solve Australia’s cost of living crisis? Will China and Australia start a war in the future?

In today’s Briefing, we speak to Australian Strategic Policy Institute Director and defence expert Bec Shrimpton to discover why buying these submarines is so important.

This is about actually maintaining stability and security in the water as far away from Australia’s shore as possible. The submarines play an important role because they are part of a network of capabilities that come together…You start to build a picture that is just not so easy for a competitor to find its way through,”
Ms Shrimpton said.

Ms Shrimpton said submarines would create “a pulse in the mind of countries like China if it was thinking of attacking”.