13-06-2026: Former Australian Labor Party (ALP) Minister and rock band Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett is leading a crowdfunded public enquiry into the federal government’s $368 billion AUKUS pact. Garrett will lead the enquiry along with other Commissioners including Admiral Chris Barrie (the former Chief of the Defence Force), Carmen Lawrence (Western Australia’s first female Premier) and Leanne Minshull (the co-CEO of the Australia Institute).[1] This is a crowd funded enquiry, as the staggering cost of the section of the alliance which involves nuclear powered submarines which may never arrive, causes increasing angst. There is considerable doubt that the US (United States of America) can hold up its end of the deal, and one ALP backbencher has called for a re-think on the entire plan.[2] Adding to concerns is the increasingly erratic and dangerous behaviour of US President Donald Trump (with little or no opposition from the Democrats) in launching a failed war on Iran, the absence of any restraints placed on Israeli warmongering in the Middle East, the kidnapping of the Venezuelan President and the virtual takeover of its government, and apparent plans for the invasion and regime change of Cuba.

Gigantic waste

Soon after the announcement of the AUKUS (Australia, the United Kingdom, the US) pact, in 2021 the then Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the termination of the ADF (Australian Defence Force) contract with the French company Naval Group for the supply of 12 conventional Barracuda submarines. The argument at the time was that the 34 billion Euro contract should be abandoned as Australia would supposedly be better served by eight nuclear powered submarines rather than 12 conventional subs.[3] However, the termination of this contract caused a political rupture with the French government, and subsequently the Australian government had to pay $830 million in a settlement for withdrawing.[4] Yet this compensatory payment is just a patch on the gigantic scale of the potential waste of the AUKUS submarine program in its entirety. This is due to the fact that there is no guarantee that the US will be able to produce and deliver the Virginia class submarines to Australia at all.

The US government is currently producing just over 1 submarine per year for its own purposes and would need to be producing around 3 per year in order to be able to hand over extra submarines to Australia sometime after 2032. And this is looking increasingly unlikely, given the state of deindustrialisation of capitalism in the US and the West in general. What is more, it is now confirmed that all of the supposed submarines that Australia is to receive under the tentative AUKUS deal will be subs which have already been used for half of their service life.[5] That is, the AUKUS nuclear powered submarines, if they arrive at all, will essentially be clapped out second hand vessels, with a reduced reactor life. The ADF will then be responsible for the use, deployment and decommissioning of the subs – relieving the US of the need to eventually scrap them themselves. With $368 billion of taxpayers’ money being forked out for second hand submarines which further locks Australia into an irrational US war machine, many are up in arms.

War plans on China

Aside from the incredible waste of funding for AUKUS, almost unmentioned is its implicit basis – the preparation for war on the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Australia does not at all need nuclear powered submarines, which are specifically designed for long range ocean missions, to defend its borders. The long-range submarines are patently being prepared for a US led war on China, which is more than 7000 kilometres from Australia’s shores. Already, the ADF has been deployed alongside the US and British navies with hostile provocations of China in the South China Sea. The claimed justification that the Western warships are simply ensuring “freedom of navigation” in international waters, or enforcing UN (United Nations) sanctions on the neighbouring DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or “North Korea”) is arrant nonsense. The aim is to provoke China into a military response, and/or blockade China’s trade through the South China Sea in the event of all out war. The ADF provocations of the PRC on and around these waterways pose a great risk of starting a catastrophic military conflict.

The enquiry into AUKUS, with its big name participants, is a reflection of the potential split in the Australian ruling class with regard to war on China. Certainly one section of Australia’s ruling elite are gung ho on following the US into a disastrous war on the PRC, a superpower which is armed with its own stocks of hypersonic missiles and nuclear weapons which it could use in its defence. Another section of Australia’s ruling class appears to be cautious about interrupting Australia’s vital trade links. China is by far Australia’s largest trading partner in imports and exports. Australia’s economy could potentially collapse overnight if all of this trade was to come to a halt in the event of an imperialist war on China. Australia’s declining capitalism has meant that its own manufacturing has dwindled, and it is all but reliant on China for the import of computers, appliances, clothing, footwear and almost everything found in a department store. And now, ten years after the ceasing of the domestic production of cars, Australia is reliant on China for the import of its advanced pollution reducing electric vehicles – including buses.

The socialistic PRC has become a manufacturing and industrial superpower by virtue of its largely nationalised and planned economy. State provision of infrastructure and state backing for vital industries enables PRC based firms to produce the highest quality goods at the lowest possible price. Capitalism in the West, especially at this late stage of its existence, does not have a chance of producing goods and services that are comparable. The PRC also leads the world in engineering, AI, science, technology, ship building and aviation, amongst others. Australia does not have one kilometre of high-speed rail, in a continent of comparable size to that of China. Yet China now has around 50 000 klms of high-speed rail.

Unable to reverse the gains of China’s 1949 revolution, imperialism reverts to yet more preparation for war. Working people have literally no interest in any conflict with China, nor with war on China’s ally Iran. Australian workers should demand the dismantling of US military bases and fuelling depots across the north of the continent and the withdrawal from any military alliance with Washington. Genuine Marxist leadership is necessary to bury the scourge of war. ABOLISH AUKUS!  NO WAR ON CHINA!

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] https://thepoint.com.au/news/260603-peter-garrett-to-lead-long-overdue-public-inquiry-into-aukus (10-06-2026)

[2] www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-02/peter-garrett-leading-crowd-funded-inquiry-into-aukus/106751790 (10-06-2026)

[3] www.rfi.fr/en/international/20241214-former-admiral-urges-australia-go-back-on-aukus-deal-buy-french-subs (10-06-2026)

[4] www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/11/aukus-pact-australia-pays-830m-penalty-for-ditching-non-nuclear-french-submarines (10-06-2026)

[5] www.armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2026/revised-aukus-plan-australia-second-hand-us-submarines (10-06-2026)