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Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has fielded some prickly questions regarding future Chinese trade relations and acceptable disposal of nuclear submarine reactors, after the AUKUS announcement this week.
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Mr Marles faced concerns that the US, UK, and Australian defence agreement amounted to “protecting Australian trade routes from its biggest trade partner” while speaking on radio on 16 March.
“Everything we’re doing is about trying to make the country safer. The starting point here is that when we are acquiring a really formidable capability in terms of a nuclear-powered submarine,” he said.
“It has the capability to operate during war, but if you want the true intent of these submarines, it’s actually to provide for the increased stability and ultimately the peace of our region.
“The collective security of our region and an underpinning of the rules-based order; the rules of the road, our trade routes, which is so important for our economy.
“Australia having this capability … contributes to a more peaceful region and provides for a greater safety for our community.”
Marles said the federal government values a productive relationship with China as the country’s largest trading partner.
“It’s really important that we get the hard power equation right and that we take the steps that we need to, to make sure that we can keep the country safe in what is a pretty difficult geostrategic environment, and one which it looks as though will get more difficult in the coming years,” he said.
The Deputy Premier was also needled regarding the inevitable disposal of nuclear submarine reactors, an eventuality that has been evasively handballed by state governments in Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia.
“It’s a heavy responsibility that we’ve taken and it’s one that we need to take as a nation in order to demonstrate our nuclear stewardship. That means looking after the nuclear material through the entirety of its life including its disposal,” Mr Marles said.
“We’re not talking about needing to dispose of one of the used nuclear reactors until the mid-2050s, so there’s a long way into the future.
“An appropriate site will be found in the country, it will be on Defence land, current or future. It’s obviously not going to be near population centres.
“Within the year, we will describe what that process will look like for identifying the site; so that’s not to say we’ll identify the site in 12 months, but we will establish a process by which that will happen.
“It will require a purpose-built facility, but we do have the time to get this right. We’ll work with the premiers of all the states as we go through this process. We are committing to disposing of the material within Australia.”
