View from The Hill: Ed Husic stirs pot on AUKUS as Peter Garrett to lead public inquiry |
Internal dissent within Labor over AUKUS has erupted again, with former cabinet minister Ed Husic suggesting there should be a fresh caucus vote on the controversial agreement.
Meanwhile, critics have launched a public inquiry into AUKUS headed by former Labor minister Peter Garrett (of Midnight Oil fame), and crossbenchers have joined a call for the government to be “transparent with the Australian people about the risks to the delivery of the AUKUS submarine program and how they will effectively manage those risks”.
Husic raised AUKUS at Tuesday’s caucus meeting after a weekend announcement that Australia will now receive three secondhand Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the United States instead of the earlier plan for one new and two used boats.
Read more: Australia has been the victim of an AUKUS ‘bait and switch’
Defence Minister Richard Marles met his US and British counterparts on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore at the weekend, when the revised arrangement was announced.
The changed arrangements are providing another opportunity for the critics.
The new outbreak comes as Labor’s national conference looms in July, where the pact, and questions around its submarines, will be a divisive issue that will require careful management by the factional leaders. AUKUS was contested at the 2023 national conference.
In his question to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Husic asked whether, given the recent changes relating to the submarines, Albanese thought the previous caucus resolution of support, taken in opposition,........