Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on the Pentagon launching a review of the AUKUS submarine pact

The Pentagon is launching a fresh review of the AUKUS security pact with Australia and the UK.

A US defence official says the review aims to ensure the pact meets Donald Trump's 'America First' agenda.

Australia is relying on the agreement to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says there's growing calls among Australians for the nation to back out of AUKUS - but Australia needs the alliance.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murray Old's Ozzie corresponding with us now mus.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Very good afternoon, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
So what is going on with Orcus?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, according to the Defense Minister Richard Mayley, just played
that grab nothing to see here, he says Joe Hockey,
who of course is a form a former Liberal Treasurer
under Tony Abbott, also a former American Australian ambassador to
the United States. He said, listen, nothing to see here.

(00:28):
Australia should keep going with the Orcast plan. Scott Morrison
signed the deal, of course, and snubbed the French and
doing so. But a lot of people in this country
now are saying, for God's sake, grab this opportunity to
run one hundred miles an hour away from Orcus. If
we ever get submarines, will have paid four hundred million

(00:49):
dollars for technology that's going to be out of date
before they even hit the water. And that's the big concern.
I mean. At the same time, I mean Pete has
get that, you know, Awarding Buffet, who's in charge of
American defense spending, he said the other day Australia, lift
your jet. You know you're spending on defense to three
and a half percent of GDP. That's a whole percentage

(01:11):
point above what it is now. And I mean rightly,
I think most Australians would say, Anthony Albaneze, you got
it right, he's an hang on a second sport, will
decide what we spend money on for our own defense. Now,
you know, let's be quite frank Without the United States,
Australia is sitting here like a plucked chicken. There's nothing
between us. And you know, if President she wants to

(01:32):
come down the turnpike and say I quite like Darwin,
I'll I'll have Darwin, well, he's going to stop him. Yeah,
But the fact of the matter is Australia can't afford
to spend any more money. And we can't afford to
spend four hundred billion dollars in today's dollars on submarines.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Course no, yeah, well you can't afford to buy those submarines.
That's ridiculous. But of course you can afford to spend
more on defense, and frankly, you may just have to,
like we may just have to. But isn't that what
this is really about, muss Isn't this is this review
just design to actually put pressure on you guys to
lift your spending.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Quite possibly, yes, indeed, and maybe there's a quid pro
quote to be had here. That's what other people are
saying here. What about the United States crude American nuclear submarines?
What about if they rotate through Australian waters Perth, Sydney,
up in Brisbane, Melbourne and so on. I mean, Australia
has no capacity to crewe these subs. We haven't got

(02:26):
the sub mariners to do that. The obsolete old subs
we've got now it's just pie in the sky. So
maybe this is a chance to scrap the submarine deal
spend more money on more relevant defense. I mean, have
a look what Ukraine's doing with drones. For goodness sake.
Does Australia invest in iron dome technology for ports like Darwin?
That could be a jumping off point for US forces

(02:49):
to go and take on the Chinese. There's a million
ways to spend money. Is the current expenditure worthwhile in
the long term? I hope that's what is going to
come out of this.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, fair point. Okay, Now, how did it go down
with you guys? The sanctioning of those couple of Israeli ministers?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
What has been muted. You know, I haven't heard the
opposition saying, oh, it's dreadful and the government's very forthright.
Penny Wong said, these guys, these two ministers are the
most extreme. I'm quoting out the most extreme proponents of
the unlawful and violent expansion of Israeli settlements. The Israeli
ambassador is not impressed. I mean, that's fair enough. But

(03:27):
Australia says, listen, these two ministers, and I was not
aware of this, but they recently joined a group marching
through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem chanting death to Arabs. Well,
if that's the way the Israeli government wants to conduct itself,
these two fellas deserve to have sanctions apply applied against them.
I mean, we are in good company New Zealand, Canada,
I think Great Britain and Norway have all signed this.

(03:48):
As long as Australia's on its own and these two people,
I mean is what does say to the rest of
the world of these two ministers, these hard right ministers
and the Israeli government that net Niah has stitched together.
He can't form one of his own, he has to
have this coalition. What does it say, if the world
turns a blind eye to what these halfwits are saying. Yeah,
I mean it's just it's dreadful, don't you think.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Well, yeah, I have got no problem with sanctioning them whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
I think it's bad.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
I think, you know, I don't even know if it's
bloody enough at all. Hey, Mauz, thank you. I appreciate it.
Marrie Old's Australia correspondent, Geez, wouldn't you love something to
be done about Gaza to sort that out?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
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