Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has said he believes the 2030 deadline for the country to have nuclear subs in our waters is “optimistic in the extreme.”
Marles who is also Australia’s defence minister said that he believed the deadline set by the previous Australian government was in the 2040’s rather than 2030.
“Now we will be looking at every option available to try and bring that time forward, but I think to bring it forward to eight years from now would be extremely optimistic.”
The Deputy Prime Minister admitted that this would leave Australia with a capability gap and that they were considering all possibilities to close the hole in Australia’s defence, including extending the life of the Collins Class submarines.
Concerned Nuclear Deal Sends Wrong Message
The comments from Marles come after one of Australia’s long-term Asia-pacific allies Malaysia has reiterated its concerns over the nuclear submarine deal to Foreign Minister Penny Wong who is currently on a diplomatic visit to the south-east Asian nation.“We want to maintain the South China Sea in particular and the region as a whole, as a region of peace, of commerce, of prosperity,” he said. “And we had a very candid discussion on AUKUS just now and I thank the Foreign Minister for explaining the current government’s position. And Malaysia’s position remains the same.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had previously said in May that the AUKUS deal could have potential knock-on effects arguing that if China, for example, wanted to help North Korea buy nuclear-propelled submarines Malaysia could not “say no because AUKUS has set a precedent”
Australia Seeks to Keep Region Peaceful
However, she added that the deal was not going to turn Australia into a nuclear power.“What we are doing is replacing an existing capability with a new capability and that is nuclear‑powered submarines,” Wong said. “The propulsion system is powered by nuclear power. But we remain very clear that we do not seek, and nor would we ever seek, to have any nuclear capability on our submarines.”
Wong said that the government was aware that the region was being reshaped economically and politically and that Australia would always operate on the basis of keeping the region peaceful.
“Australia will always operate on the basis that we have this objective: a region that is peaceful, a region that is stable, a region that is prosperous, a region in which sovereignty is respected, and, importantly, a region where rules enable some predictability to State behaviour and to the way in which disputes would be dealt with,” she said.
Additionally, the institute revealed that the number of Australians who want defence spending to be increased has jumped 20 points since 2019 to 51 percent.