- Aukus treaty allows termination with one year’s notice
- Australia to buy US submarines, build new SSN-Aukus subs
- Critics fear risks to Australian sovereignty, nuclear safety
According to the rules of a new treaty aimed at making the Aukus security agreement a reality, the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia could end their collaboration on nuclear-powered submarines with just one year’s notice.
The Australian government released the language of the new deal on Monday, attempting to dispel concerns that it was failing to inform the public about potentially important political commitments to the United States and the United Kingdom.
However, opponents of the Aukus agreement claimed that the pact had “multiple get-out-of-jail-free cards for the US,” adding to pre-existing concerns that a future president would withdraw from supplying Virginia-class submarines to Australia in the 2030s.
The concerns stem from constraints at US shipyards, which are causing delays in satisfying the US’s own submarine construction needs.
Under the Aukus proposal, announced in San Diego in 2023, Australia intends to purchase at least three Virginia-class submarines from the United States in the 2030s.
Australia and the United Kingdom will then construct a new class of nuclear-powered submarines called as SSN-Aukus.
The new agreement replaces a previous deal that permitted “the exchange of naval nuclear propulsion information” and allows for the shipment of nuclear material to Australia.
The new treaty specifies that it will “remain in force until 31 December 2075,” but any party may terminate it “by giving at least one year’s written notice” to the other countries.
If any country violates or ends the pact, the others have “the right to require the return or destruction of any information, material, and equipment” previously shared.
The treaty includes various safeguards, including the requirement for Australia to acquire an agreement with the global watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, “prior to the UK or the US transferring any nuclear material to Australia.
Nuclear material will be shipped to Australia in “complete, welded power units” and can only be utilized for marine atomic propulsion.
If Australia “materially breaches its obligations” under the long-standing Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or “detonates a nuclear explosive device,” the US and UK “have the right to cease further cooperation under the agreement and demand the return of any nuclear material or equipment transferred pursuant to the agreement.
The memo discloses that Australia has committed to accept responsibility for any nuclear safety hazards.
Australia will indemnify the United States and the United Kingdom “against any liability, loss, costs, damage or injury” resulting from nuclear risks “connected with the design, manufacture, assembly, transfer, or utilization” of any of the material and equipment.
A representative for the Australian Submarine Agency stated, “The likelihood of the indemnity being invoked is remote.” The UK and US Navy nuclear propulsion programs have unrivaled safety records.”
David Shoebridge, the Australian Greens’ defense spokesperson, stated that he had “never seen such an irresponsible, one-sided international agreement signed by an Australian government.”
“Every aspect of this agreement is a blow to Australian sovereignty,” Shoebridge told reporters.
This is the deal of the century for the US and UK, who must be smiling all the way to the bank after discovering the Albanese government and their billions of public cash.
Shoebridge and other Aukus detractors were alarmed last week when US President Joe Biden announced that the new pact was accompanied by “a non-legally binding understanding” that included “additional related political commitments.”
However, this extra document, which was published alongside the treaty on Monday, makes no mention of whether Australia would participate in any specific US-led military operation over Taiwan.
The two-page document identified ten elements that would “guide” the treaty’s implementation.
It stated that the United States and the United Kingdom should not unjustly withhold information, materials, or equipment from Australia.
The countries have also agreed that cooperation should be carried out in a way that does not “adversely affect the ability of the United States and the United Kingdom to meet their respective military requirements.”
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The Australian government has consistently stated that it will make “sovereign, independent decisions” on how to utilize the submarines, and it has made no prior promise to the US to participate in any future military action.
Richard Marles, the Australian defense minister, described the treaty as “another significant Aukus milestone.”
The agreement is clear that Australia, as a non-nuclear weapons state, will not seek to acquire nuclear weapons, he said on Monday.
According to Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, most treaties are open-ended and “effectively remain in ongoing operation until they are superseded, replaced, or mutually terminated.”
The countries’ decision to impose a 2075 deadline highlights the agreement’s transactional nature as it pertains to nuclear material transfer and the construction of new Aukus submarines.
According to Rothwell, the right to terminate the agreement with one year’s notice was “a unilateral provision” that provided “enormous flexibility to all sides.”
