Public Call to the Australian government
I call on our government to cancel the AUKUS and Force Posture Agreements to stop
- Nuclear submarines using Australian ports
- Nuclear submarine waste being stored on Australian territory
- Nuclear capable bombers operating from Australia
- Use of Australian territory as a base for US war operations
- Australian cities becoming military targets
I endorse the above statement
Supporting Information
The Trump government has now dropped any pretence of building a better world, showing that the USA will act only in the interests of its corporations above its own people and citizens of the world.
Recent Australian governments have unwisely locked Australia’s destiny more tightly than ever to the United States. Under Donald Trump, we now know that all guarantees are off, and all alliances are conditional on US ascendancy and interests – not ours.
More and more Australians are questioning the reliability of the USA as a military ‘partner’ and ‘ally’. The USA’s self-interest has been clear through the wars of the past 75 years.
Australia has unwisely signed two agreements that make us a military appendage of the USA. AUKUS Pillar 1 and 2 signed in 2013 and the Force Posture Agreement signed in 2014 have reduced Australia to a military appendage of the USA.
Force Posture Agreement:
https://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/02%20Parliamentary%20Business/24%20Committees/244%20Joint%20Committees/JSCT/2014/2september2014/Report%20145/Chapter2.pdf
AUKUS is a military agreement with the USA and the United Kingdom. It has never been subject to public or parliamentary scrutiny. AUKUS:
- Guarantees us nothing (except huge costs).
- Commits Australia to buying nuclear-powered submarines.
- Puts Australia in lockstep with an erratic USA and its growing hostility to China.
- Commits us to even deeper dependency on US foreign and military policy.
- Ties Australia further into the US military-industrial complex
- Commits us to permanent storage of radioactive waste from nuclear subs.
AUKUS and associated commitments are projected to cost Australia $375 Billion (plus future cost blowouts).
Australia has agreed to pay a total of A$10 Billion to subsidise the US and UK submarine-building industries, of which we have so far paid A$800 million to the US and A$600 million to the UK. These amounts are subsidies, not deposits, they are not refundable and there is no guarantee that the submarines will ever be delivered.
The Force Posture Agreement (FPA):
- Allows the USA to use Australia as an operational base in its wars.
- Allows the USA to operate nuclear-capable bombers and warships from Australia, without Australian control, and without declaring any nuclear weapons on board.
- Automatically makes us a party to any USA war actions.
Labor and the Coalition continue to refuse an honest public appraisal of AUKUS and the FPA, their risks, and the alternatives.
Australia has given away much of its defence and foreign policy sovereignty and independence under these agreements, and its ability to use many of its own defence systems without US approval.
Australia’s best future lies in making peace and good diplomatic relations a priority, and preventing an endless and dangerous cycle of militarisation.
Let’s stay out of the next US war, and forge an alternative and independent foreign and defence policy.
Both the AUKUS and FPA agreements allow Australia to withdraw with 12 months’ notice. Add your name to this Call to cancel AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement.