US Bipartisan Support Will Overcome AUKUS Scepticism: Congressman

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L), US President Joe Biden (C) and former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hold a press conference after a trilateral meeting during the AUKUS summit in San Diego, Calif., on March 13, 2023. Leon Neal/Getty Images

A senior U.S. congressman has sought to reassure Australians about the progress of the tri-nation AUKUS defence partnership amid criticism about its feasibility.

Democratic Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT), co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Australia Caucus, said the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act in December 2024 was a sign of Congress’ strong support for seeing the deal through.

AUKUS will see the United Kingdom and United States arm and train Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarine fleet as a future counterweight to ongoing aggression from the Chinese Communist Party in the region.

AUKUS also solidifies partnerships on new technologies like hypersonic weapons, quantum technology, drones, undersea weapons, and artificial intelligence.

“In the same year Congress was marred with record low productivity and high levels of division, the AUKUS mission still saw real momentum among lawmakers in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle,” Courtney wrote in an opinion piece for The Australian.

“That level of bipartisan, bicameral support in a challenging political environment sends a powerful signal to naysayers and sceptics that the AUKUS mission has a strong foundation of support ready to withstand the political winds the New Year will bring.”

According to the AUKUS agreement, Australia will first receive three Virginia-class submarines from the United States in the early 2030s.

Then in the 2040s, Australia will receive its first SSN AUKUS submarines, a new class of nuclear-powered vessel developed with the UK.

However, a shortfall in building capacity of the U.S. Navy’s Virginia-class submarine program has raised concerns about whether Australia could receive the number of submarines it was promised.

We Have An Important Relationship with the US: Albanese

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia had a “very important relationship” with the United States, which was reflected in the AUKUS arrangements.

“I’ve been down there at the defence facility here in Perth. I went on one of the Virginia Class subs there just a few months ago,” he told 96FM Perth Radio.

“There are Australians working on that submarine [and] Australians there in the United States learning and getting the skills that they need.”

Regarding tariff threats from President-elect Donald Trump, the prime minister said he was confident that it would not happen.

“The United States has a trade surplus with us and so if you have tariffs, then that would actually disadvantage the United States,” he said.

“I had a constructive first discussion with Donald Trump. And I’m confident that we'll continue to act in both our country’s interests.