Should Australia urgently withdraw from the AUKUS pact. The recent Trump-ordered review of the deal by the U.S. Department of Defence exposes what many have warned for years: AUKUS is a wildly expensive, strategically outdated, and politically fragile gamble that delivers no guarantees.
Why should Australia continue to bankroll American shipyards while our own security remains in limbo with billions? It is not in our national interest when we rely on an unstable US administration that changes its mind daily.
At up to $368 billion, AUKUS represents the most exorbitant defence spending in our history—with delivery of the first nuclear submarines not expected until the 2030s, if ever.
Now, that timeline is in serious doubt. Trump’s hand-picked defence adviser Elbridge Colby is leading the review, and he has already raised concerns that supplying submarines to Australia could compromise U.S. military readiness.
We don’t need obsolete Cold War hardware. We need the tools of modern warfare. Ukraine’s battlefield success against a far larger Russian force has demonstrated the game-changing effectiveness of drones, autonomous systems, and cyber capabilities.
These technologies are fast, scalable, far less expensive—and can be developed and deployed locally at a fraction of the price – while we wait two decades for submarines that may never come.
China is rapidly advancing drone swarms, AI-enabled targeting, and hypersonic missile capabilities. AUKUS is not just costly—it’s dangerously slow and misaligned with reality.
Moreover, the strategic assumptions behind AUKUS are flawed. The notion that Australia will one day project submarine power in the Taiwan Strait alongside the U.S. and U.K. is both implausible and reckless. What’s more likely is that we’ll become a permanent support base for American forces, with little operational sovereignty and no independent deterrent capacity. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has rightly criticised the deal as one-sided and ill-conceived.
Instead, Australia should reallocate funds toward a nimble, modern, sovereign defence force—one that can monitor and protect our northern approaches, safeguard undersea cables, and deter grey-zone threats through cyber and space capabilities. Investing in drone fleets, satellite surveillance, and domestic defence industry jobs is not only smarter, but aligns with our national interest and technological future.
AUKUS was always more symbolism than strategy. Now that even our so-called ally is reassessing its commitment, the writing is on the wall. Australia must walk away before we sink any deeper. The future of defence is autonomous, agile, and Australian.
