‘We are completely dependent on what happens in the US’: former PM lashes Aukus submarine deal
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has lashed the Aukus pillar 1 submarine deal, arguing the US is producing half as many as needed and Australia has “abandoned our sovereignty in terms of submarines”.
Speaking to ABC RN about the issue, Turnbull said:
The US navy is trying to increase its submarine fleet actually to meet the rapid growth in the Chinese navy, in particular (with) submarines. To do that to meet its own requirements, it needs to double its current production of Virginia-class submarines. And so, of course, in order to transfer submarines to Australia in the 2030s, three and possibly five under the Aukus pillar 1 deal, they’ve got to increase their production even more.
Now, right at the moment, they’re not only producing about half as many submarines as they believe they need, but they also are not able to maintain the submarines they have …
What does that mean for Australia? It means because the Morrison government, adopted by Albanese, has basically abandoned our sovereignty in terms of submarines, we are completely dependent on what happens in the United States as to whether we get them now. The reality is the Americans are not going to make their submarine deficit worse than it is already by giving or selling submarines to Australia and the Aukus legislation actually sets that out quite specifically.
So you know, this is really a case of us being mugged by reality. I mean, there’s a lot of Aukus cheerleaders, and anyone that has any criticism of Aukus is almost described as being unpatriotic. We’ve got to be realistic here.
Key events
More from AAP on this:
The New South Wales government says it is working on reducing wait times and improving access to care.
Measures include an emergency department task force, boosting staff by making 1112 temporary nurses permanent and recruiting an additional 1200 nurses and midwives. About 600 more treatment spaces are planned for western Sydney as well 25 urgent care services to be rolled out across the state.
Health minister Ryan Park said while the improvements are promising, too many people are still waiting too long:
We are throwing everything in our ruck sack at improving access and reducing wait times in our hospitals.
This includes boosting staff and infrastructure; but also rolling out urgent care and providing those alternate pathways to care, to treat people outside the hospital; and establishing an ED taskforce to drive improvements in wait times and access to care.
Modest improvement but hospital waits ‘still too long’
One in 10 patients are still waiting nearly 11 hours in New South Wales hospital emergency departments despite modest improvements in wait times across the board, AAP reports.
Hospitals are treating more patients with the most urgent clinical conditions, with a record number of triage 1 and 2 presentations to NSW EDs in October to December 2023, the latest quarterly report from the Bureau of Health Information shows.
Almost 60% of patients spent less than four hours in the ED, a slight improvement to the preceding quarter and this time in 2022.
One in 10 patients spent longer than 10 hours and 30 minutes in the ED, well above pre-pandemic levels.
Of the 195,269 people treated and admitted, 25.4% spent less than four hours in the ED.
Despite a record number of triage 1 and 2 presentations, the data shows a continued improvement in time patients waited to start treatment.
Two in three patients started their ED treatment on time and almost 80% of patients who arrived by ambulance had their care transferred to ED staff within 30 minutes.
The decrease in non urgent presentations is reflective of more patients seeking care options outside hospital and relieving pressure on EDs, a government spokesperson said.
Leaders to fast-track $1bn funding for NT public schools
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, was also on ABC RN earlier this morning, discussing the funding package announced for schools in the Northern Territory.
As Caitlin Cassidy reports: prime minister Anthony Albanese, chief minister of the NT Eva Lawler, and education minister Jason Clare and his counterpart Mark Monaghan will sign a statement of intent this morning.
This will outline a $1bn investment that will see all public schools in the NT reach 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2029 – more than two decades earlier than would have been the case under current settings. The SRS is the benchmark for required funding based on student needs.
Speaking on RN, Burney said:
I think it’s astounding for a lot of people in the eastern states to know that children in the Northern Territory, particularly in remote communities, actually do not have a secondary education unless they leave home, Country and family and board in Alice Springs, Katherine or Darwin.
‘We’ve got to get on with it’: Turnbull on fuel standards
Changing topic, and the former PM Malcolm Turnbull has backed the government’s proposed fuel efficiency standards.
He disagreed that the timeline for the standards were too ambitious, and questioned why Australia’s fuel standards should not be the same as the US, China and Europe.
We’ve got to get on with it.
When asked whether the standards would lead to a steep increase in car prices, Turnbull said he doesn’t “buy that”.
Those large cars that you’re talking about … they’re bought in great abundance in North America and they have this higher fuel standard, so I don’t see Americans going away from their huge trucks. So whether you think your trucks are a good idea or not, the Americans have plenty of them – they also have higher fuel standards.
Australia has ‘lost all sovereignty, all agency’: Turnbull on Aukus
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says that Australia is “bopping along as a cork in the maelstrom of American politics” as he continues to criticise the Aukus pillar 1 submarine deal.
Speaking on ABC RN, Turnbull said if the United States doesn’t dramatically increase the pace in which it is producing submarines, there is “no reason to believe that (Australia) will ever get the submarines that were promised under Aukus”.
This is what happens when … a sovereign nation abandons its sovereignty.
He said former PM Scott Morrison made a “terrible mistake” in abandoning the deal with France, where Australia was building the submarines in Australia and “were actually in control of our own destiny”.
But now we have “lost all sovereignty, all agency” under the current Aukus deal, Turnbull argued.
On Aukus pillar 1 we are effectively in conflict with the needs of the US navy, and you know as well as I do the American government, when it comes to a choice between the needs of the US navy and the Australian navy, are always going to back their own.
(There is) an alternative solution, which has been publicly canvassed in Congress, which is what they call a division of labour, and that is where we don’t get any submarines from the United States (and) we would invest in other capabilities and the Americans … would basically provide that submarine protection for us …
I fear today, Patricia, there are some people in Canberra, there are many people that don’t care about sovereignty the way I do and I hope you do, and I hope many of your listeners do.
‘We are completely dependent on what happens in the US’: former PM lashes Aukus submarine deal
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has lashed the Aukus pillar 1 submarine deal, arguing the US is producing half as many as needed and Australia has “abandoned our sovereignty in terms of submarines”.
Speaking to ABC RN about the issue, Turnbull said:
The US navy is trying to increase its submarine fleet actually to meet the rapid growth in the Chinese navy, in particular (with) submarines. To do that to meet its own requirements, it needs to double its current production of Virginia-class submarines. And so, of course, in order to transfer submarines to Australia in the 2030s, three and possibly five under the Aukus pillar 1 deal, they’ve got to increase their production even more.
Now, right at the moment, they’re not only producing about half as many submarines as they believe they need, but they also are not able to maintain the submarines they have …
What does that mean for Australia? It means because the Morrison government, adopted by Albanese, has basically abandoned our sovereignty in terms of submarines, we are completely dependent on what happens in the United States as to whether we get them now. The reality is the Americans are not going to make their submarine deficit worse than it is already by giving or selling submarines to Australia and the Aukus legislation actually sets that out quite specifically.
So you know, this is really a case of us being mugged by reality. I mean, there’s a lot of Aukus cheerleaders, and anyone that has any criticism of Aukus is almost described as being unpatriotic. We’ve got to be realistic here.
US navy to halve submarine procurement in 2025: media reports
The ABC is reporting that the United States will halve next year’s planned procurement of Virginia-class boats, as the defence minister, Richard Marles, says Aukus partners are working “at pace” to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
It says defence budget papers released yesterday show the US navy would order just one of the fast-attack submarines in 2025, rather than two, pushing a projected saving of $US4bn into future years.
Democratic congressman Joe Courtney reportedly warned the decision would have a “profound impact” on both countries’ navies:
If such a cut is actually enacted, it will remove one more attack submarine from a fleet that is already 17 submarines below the Navy’s long-stated requirement of 66.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is due to speak about this shortly on ABC RN, and we’ll bring you this here on the blog.
Continued from our last post:
The Australian Grape and Wine chief executive, Lee McLean, said the decision was a “positive step” towards resuming trade with what was formerly the largest export market:
We remain cautiously optimistic about the forthcoming decision and will await Mofcom’s (China’s commerce ministry) final determination.
We appreciate the collaborative efforts from both the Australian and Chinese governments, and industry partners, in working towards a resolution.
China lifted tariffs on Australian barley in August last year following a similar process, after Labor paused a WTO dispute in exchange for a review.
Beijing imposed $20bn in sanctions on Australian products during heightened tensions in 2020.
Sanctions worth $2bn remain on wine, rock lobster and some abattoirs.
China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, on Monday said the review was “moving on the right track, in the right direction”.
Senator Don Farrell recently met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, on the sidelines of the WTO’s ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi last month.
– from AAP
China moves to dump tariffs on $1b wine exports
As we just flagged: China has recommended dropping tariffs on Australian wine exports worth $1bn in an interim decision, AAP reports.
Beijing is reviewing the sanctions through a five-month process after the Albanese government agreed to suspend Australia’s dispute lodged with the World Trade Organization until 31 March. The Chinese government yesterday released its interim recommendation that the duties on wine are no longer necessary.
Beijing will announce its final decision later this month, but the move has sparked hope the tariffs will be fully removed.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the government had stabilised the relationship with China without compromising the nation’s values:
We have delivered on that commitment through calm and consistent dialogue. We continue to press for all remaining trade impediments to be removed.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, said the interim recommendation was a welcome development, and “vindicates the government’s preferred approach of resolving trade issues through dialogue rather than disputation”.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and happy Wednesday – welcome back to Australia news live blog! Emily Wind here, I’ll bring you our rolling coverage today.
Making news overnight, China has recommended dropping tariffs on Australian wine exports worth $1bn in an interim decision.
As AAP reports, Beijing is reviewing the sanctions through a five-month process after the Albanese government agreed to suspend Australia’s dispute lodged with the World Trade Organization until 31 March.
The Chinese government yesterday released its interim recommendation that the duties on wine are no longer necessary. Beijing will announce its final decision later this month, but the move has sparked hope the tariffs will be fully removed.
We’ll have more on this shortly, but in the meantime, here is this great piece by Eliza Spencer from our rural network on the issue:
The search is continuing for seven people – including four children – missing amid the heavy rain in Western Australia. Yesterday, police said they held “serious welfare concerns” for the people missing hundreds of kilometres north-east of Kalgoorlie, as flooding has cut off road and rail links into the state.
We will bring you the latest on this as we hear further updates today.
See something that needs attention on the blog? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or send me an email: [email protected].
Let’s get started.