- by Eileen Whitehead
- The Guardian
- Issue #2159
Andrew Fowler’s book critically examines the decision by the Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison (and his failure to inform anybody else) – to enter into the most expensive military acquisition agreement (at $368 billion) in Australia’s history. Morrison virtually shanghaied this country into signing a new trilateral security agreement with the US and UK known as AUKUS on 15 September 2021, and then informing the Labor opposition shortly before an election, virtually forcing them into agreement for fear of being ‘wedged’ and accused of being weak, in the lead-up to the 2022 election.
We now realise that it’s not just the cost that should concern us but also, because of Morrison’s deviousness, the fact that Australia’s sovereignty is now threatened.
Fowler has painstakingly unpacked Morrison’s extensive efforts to deceive the French government while he was hatching a secretive plan with the Americans to acquire nuclear submarines. Fowler is an award-winning investigative journalist, who has worked for the ABC’s Four Corners and Foreign Correspondent programmes. Here he presents a devastating picture of what AUKUS will mean to Australia.
Central to the story is the LNP’s long-running love affair with the US, which increasingly ties us to a country now run by a mad despot. The book was written when Joe Biden was president: a very different situation. With Trump as president, we certainly need a critical re-evaluation of AUKUS with the US now seeming to depart from anything resembling democratic norms. It would be interesting to have Fowler’s take on the present situation.
In his analysis of the impact the AUKUS deal has on Australia’s sovereignty, Fowler unpacks the somewhat lopsided history of the alliance as military cooperation grows closer. He points out that the Australian government has not always been fully aware of the functions of major military installations like Pine Gap, whose operations by the US have been kept from our government. He also touches on the use of other military infrastructure around Australia that are used to relay US battlefield commands and, even in the future, a nuclear strike. Will the Australian government even know what is happening on its own shores?
Fowler makes the case that while there are numerous instances in Australia’s history in which sovereignty has been challenged by alliance partners, AUKUS takes this to another level. Citing a lack of expertise in nuclear-trained operatives, the lack of a domestic nuclear industry, and an acquisition contract in which Australia essentially ceded all negotiating rights, Fowler argues that Australia’s future defence will essentially be at the mercy of the US – a situation which would not have occurred under the French agreement.
What is most significant is the level of secrecy and lack of oversight that has been shown to be possible in making Australian foreign policy. Fowler shows how Morrison sowed seeds of doubt in the agreement with the French, using the media to create a sense of urgency by inflating the possibility of conflict with China to ensure acceptance of the AUKUS announcement. In this way, public debate was avoided – and even debate within his own government by keeping the prospective deal secret even from Barnaby Joyce, then leader of the Nationals – on an issue that would ultimately come to undermine Australia’s sovereign capabilities for decades to come.
Nuked is essential reading. Fowler challenges the unquestioning faith in the US alliance held by many on the political right and advances a compelling narrative of Australia’s loss of sovereignty as it edges closer and closer to the US.
Fowler doesn’t just raise the important question about the viability of AUKUS, but also questions the processes of future military acquisition and the significant gaps in checks and balances when it comes to foreign policy decision-making. The implications of AUKUS are immense, and with this current political climate plus the growing concerns around the viability of AUKUS, the importance of this book has grown significantly.
