Osborne Shipyard AUKUS Nuclear Submarines - Are They "Done and Dusted"?

Written by: Ned K. on 9 November 2026

(Adelaide rally against AUKUS.  Photo supplied Fernando Goncalves)

The findings of the public inquiry into AUKUS were announced by former ALP Minister Peter Garrett at the National Press Club last week, with the question "Will AUKUS keep us safe - and at what cost?"

There was scant coverage of this in the mainstream media and not a single word about it in the Murdoch daily mass distribution newspapers of the major capital cities. This is not surprising. However, there are signs that sections of big business in Australia who support the US -Australia Alliance are having real doubts about the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement and building of nuclear submarines at the Osborne shipyard near Port Adelaide.

The big businesses having doubts include the Murdoch empire itself. They are not concerned about the people of Osborne and Port Adelaide and Adelaide itself becoming a nuclear target. Nor are they concerned about the danger of nuclear waste and where to store it. Their concern is that rapid changes in military technologies are going to make nuclear powered submarines obsolete, both in the event of war between the US and China and for defending big business interests in Australia.

"Drone and Dusted"

Hidden away in the "Commentary" page of Murdoch Press's "The Australian" (Wednesday 4th November) was an article "Is AUKUS Drone and Dusted" by columnist Robert Gottleiebsen.

His article starts off sounding the alarm for his big business reader audience.

"Potentially, the most serious black hole in Australian government spending is AUKUS.

"Back in 2021, the AUKUS submarine agreement made sense for all three parties - the US, UK and Australia. But dramatic changes in warfare technology are making the deal increasingly dangerous for Australia and potentially less relevant to our partners. Yet we continue to spend as though nothing has changed."

The article goes on to say that nuclear-powered submarines were meant to be able to travel through deep sea waters undetected. This is what the champions of AUKUS including the likes of Morrison, Albanese, Wong and Marles continue to say makes the nuclear-powered submarines in "the national interest". 
Gottliebsen's article argues that "detection technology and artificial intelligence are potentially transforming the ability to locate and destroy older-technology submarines."

The solution put forward by this Murdoch Press article is not that the Australian government’s full support for the USA in preparing for war with China should be withdrawn. The solution proposed is that Australia contribute to the US war machine by developing "both offensive drone capabilities and effective systems for defending against drone attacks".

The Murdoch Press article also doubts that the UK has the technological capability and political certainty to provide the submarine design for Australian built submarines in the 2030s. Gottliebsen's article concludes that the shipyard being built at Osborne for yet to be designed UK nuclear submarines is looking more likely to be a wasteland of large empty buildings and destroyed natural environment.

The multinational corporations with direct economic interests in the nuclear submarine construction in Australia will not worry too much if the nuclear submarines are obsolete when or before they are completed. They have already sucked in compliant politicians at federal and state level to this profit-making project and promised a rosy career future for young people at the Osborne shipyard itself and its dependent businesses.

This is the price of servility by governments to AUKUS and the servility to big imperialist powers.

Local Osborne people and people of Australia deserve better than this.

Print Version - new window Email article

-----