Labor MP Ed Husic has issued a stark warning about the Aukus submarine agreement, arguing that sluggish US production and the transactional nature of the Trump administration threaten the $368bn defence pact. Speaking during a Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday, Husic became the most prominent internal critic of the deal since the ALP national conference in 2023.
Husic said US shipyards currently produce only 1.1 to 1.2 Virginia-class submarines per year, well below the target of 2.33 needed for the deal to proceed as planned. He questioned whether Australia would receive the submarines promised, noting that the agreement requires the US president to approve transfers based on US Navy needs.
“We need to be open as a nation that we are not going to get the deal that was promised to us,” Husic said. He called for a contingency plan, warning of sovereignty risks under a transactional Trump administration.
Defence Minister Richard Marles this week agreed to US requests for Australia to accept three second-hand Virginia-class submarines instead of a mix of new and old vessels. Husic suggested Marles was forced by the US to express satisfaction with the new arrangements after talks in Singapore.
Former Labor minister Kim Carr praised Husic’s intervention as “courageous,” describing Aukus as an extremely expensive, high-risk project that deepens dependence on an erratic US. Shadow defence minister James Paterson labelled the criticism a “full-on Labor revolt” and demanded Marles reaffirm the government’s commitment to the deal.
At Senate estimates, Defence Secretary Meghan Quinn revealed that Australia had always preferred second-hand submarines, prompting Paterson to question if the original arrangement was imposed on the Albanese government. Marles has argued that second-hand boats will streamline training and servicing before the bespoke SSN Aukus model arrives in 2042.
