OFFICIAL Commando News Magazine Edition 15 2023

Supporting the AUKUS partnership
Often working closely together on operations, special
forces are no strangers to the sub marine force. That
is just one reason why the AUKUS an nouncement
about Aust ralia’s acquisi tion of nuclearpowered
sub marines, the single biggest
investment in our defence capability in
our history, is so significant. It represents
a trans forma tional moment for our
nation, the ADF, and our economy.
The agreement will strengthen Aust -
ralia’s national security and contribute to
regional stability in response to un pre -
cedented strategic challenges. It will
build a future made in Australia, by
Aust ralians, with record investments in
defence, skills, jobs, and infrastructure,
and it will deliver a superior capability
and ensure there is no capability gap
after a decade of false starts and failed
acquisitions.
The agreement is broken up into
three stages.
Firstly, we will see increased visits of
U.S. submarines commencing in 2023
and UK submarines from 2026, and
beginning in 2027 rotations of UK and
U.S. sub marines to Australia.
Secondly, from as early as the 2030s
Australia will take the delivery of three
U.S. Virginia-class nuclear-powered sub -
marines to Australia, ensuring that there
is no capability gap.
Thirdly, Australia and the UK will deliver SSN-AUKUS, a new
conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine based on a
UK design and incorporating cutting-edge Australian, UK and
U.S. technologies.
The UK will deliver its own first SSN-AUKUS in the late 2030s,
with the first SSN-AUKUS built in Australia delivered in the early
2040s.
Out to 2055, spending on the AUKUS program is estimated
to amount to around 0.15 per cent of GDP per year, averaged
out over the life of the program. This will contribute to the
Government’s commitment to lifting Defence spending to over
2 per cent of GDP per year.
The 2023-24 Budget appropriated an initial $9 billion over
the Forward Estimates and predicted spending of between $50
billion and $58 billion over the medium term to begin imple -
menta tion of the AUKUS pathway.
It will generate an additional invest ment of $6 billion in
Australian industry and workforce. The Albanese Govern ment
will invest at least $2 billion in South Australia infrastructure
alone and at least $1 billion in infrastructure in Western Australia.
An estimated $30 billion will be invested in Australia's
industrial base alone out to 2055.
Given the increasingly dangerous strategic circumstances
that Australia faces, we cannot afford not to do this.
Nuclear-powered submarines will be an Australian sovereign
capability, com manded by the Royal Australian Navy and
sustained by Australians in Australian shipyards.
AUKUS will create around 20,000 direct jobs over the next 30
years across industry, the Australian Defence Force, and the
Australian Public Service.
And while many of those will be in South Australia and
By Luke Gosling OAM MP
Luke Gosling going briefly under the Indian Ocean
on the USS Asheville (above); the launch of the
Parliamentary Friends of AUKUS (below).
Western Australia for the construction of SSN-AUKUS, many
other jobs will be created for Australians across a range of
sectors of our economy and in advanced technologies, including
in Darwin and the Northern Territory.
It’s understandable that much of the
media attention to date on AUKUS has
focused on the nuclear submarine
element.
But the technology and innovation
dividend that will come from Pillar Two
should not be underestimated,
especially for the jobs that it will drive
around Australia, including in the NT
where we are gearing up to reap the
benefits of AUKUS.
Last year for example, the Northern
Territory government, Charles Darwin
University, RMIT and the federal govern -
ment established the first Defence and
Aerospace Industry 4.0 Digital Test lab
at Charles Darwin University.
This was a decision ahead of its time
that will help to prepare the Northern
Australian workforce to be AUKUSready.
This initiative will help upskill Terri -
torians to prepare them to seize the
oppor tunities from cyber, artificial intel -
ligence, quantum, hypersonics and
other advanced defence technologies
through Pillar Two of the AUKUS part -
nership. Recently, critical minerals and
renewables have been described as Pillar Three.
AUKUS is an inter-generational project that will pool the
collective strength of three great democracies. To succeed, it is
essential that parliamentarians across the U.S. Congress and the
Australian and UK Parliaments work closely together to help
navigate this tripartite technology-sharing plan through the
technical and policy challenges that may arise over the decades.
Towards that end, I have joined with Aaron Violi MP, the
Member for Casey, in co-founding the first Parliamentary Friends
of AUKUS, a non-partisan grouping of parliamentarians who are
committed to promoting cooperation between AUKUS membercountries’
Par liaments and Congress on all aspects of this
trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the
U.S.
At its first event on 30 May, the friendship group heard from
Commodore Peter Scott, CSC, RAN (Retired) who briefed
members on his career as a sub mariner, drawing on insights
relevant to AUKUS from his new book Running Deep: An
Australian Submarine Life (Fremantle Press, 2023). This was only
the first of a series of planned activities that will con tinue in the
years ahead.
As well as delivering the biggest investment in Australian
defence industry in generations, nuclear-powered sub \marines
will make our nation better able to deter threats to our security
while contributing to the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
Achieving this crucial national objective will take enduring
bipartisan support and that is precisely what our friendship
group will help to provide.
Luke Gosling OAM MP is the Federal Member for
Solomon, re presenting Darwin and Pal mers ton in Canberra.
He served in the ADF for 13 years.
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian Commando Association ~ Edition 15 I 2023 49