{"id":82120,"date":"2023-09-06T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T02:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=82120"},"modified":"2023-09-06T11:45:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T01:45:54","slug":"aukus-sparks-a-revolution-in-labor-defence-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aukus-sparks-a-revolution-in-labor-defence-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"AUKUS sparks a revolution in Labor defence policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Australian Labor Party debates on defence policy are often full of passion and vigour, especially those involving regional security, nuclear issues and the alliance with the United States. A combination of all three has made the AUKUS agreement a lightning rod for debate in the party\u2014so much so that in the lead-up to last month\u2019s ALP National Convention it was reported that the political wrangling in the party represented an \u2018internal Labor rebellion over AUKUS<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Smouldering opposition from elements of the party\u2019s left to the plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) generated headlines for weeks. Reports tallied opposition from local party branches and high-powered former Labor figures, including former prime minister Paul Keating and former senators Bob Carr, Doug Cameron and Margaret Reynolds. As the conference reached its conclusion, we were told the \u2018Labor debate over AUKUS hangs in the balance<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

This was simply not the case.<\/p>\n

The local branch opposition highlighted in the lead-up to the conference represented a small fraction of the party. Reports of 40 local branches<\/a> across the country passing motions questioning or opposing the AUKUS pact amounted to less than half of the 101 branches<\/a> in Western Australia alone.<\/p>\n

At the conference, the party\u2019s parliamentary national security team led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had its way. Defence Minister Richard Marles and Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy sealed deals with union and factional bosses<\/a> to include a statement on AUKUS and SSNs in the party\u2019s national platform. The Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers\u2019\u00a0Union and the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union all backed down after negotiations over investment and policy pledges on housing and jobs in manufacturing and clean energy transition. Despite legitimate concerns about AUKUS, it appears opposition was artfully traded for bargaining on domestic party-political issues.<\/p>\n

As far as revolts go, it was more about colour and movement than action. There was no manning of the policy barricades and no metaphorical storming of the stage.<\/p>\n

There was no rebellion.<\/p>\n

In the end, support for AUKUS was resoundingly endorsed<\/a> by delegates.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the conference represents the most important revolution in Labor\u2019s approach to defence policy in 60 years.<\/p>\n

Nuclear propulsion for Australia\u2019s next generation of submarines now represents a central element of Labor\u2019s national platform for regional peace and stability. This is no small outcome. Ideological opposition to nuclear issues runs very deep in the party. Hard-nosed national-security pragmatism triumphed over idealism. As The Australian<\/em>\u2019s Paul Kelly wrote: \u2018The Labor Party has turned on the hinge of history.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Nuclear-powered submarines are now a core Labor value and a critical part of the party\u2019s platform to support both deterrence and self-reliance. This expands Labor\u2019s approach to defence into a new era that embraces national resilience and industrial revitalisation. Resilience is a core component of Labor\u2019s new doctrine of \u2018national defence\u2019 delivered by the defence strategic review led by former Labor foreign and defence minister Stephen Smith and former chief of the Australian Defence Force Angus Houston. As Albanese noted at the conference<\/a>, \u2018maximising [national] resilience is an opportunity to maximise Australian jobs\u2019.<\/p>\n

The AUKUS agreement and the acquisition of US Virginia-class SSNs in advance of a fleet of Australian-built SSNs constitute the most visible and tangible evidence of Australia\u2019s long-term commitment to the common defence of the Indo-Pacific and the alliance with the US.<\/p>\n

This makes support for AUKUS the most significant move in the party since the 1963 Labor Federal Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 1963 conference dealt with the establishment of the North-West Cape naval communications installation, which it accepted on the basis that the facility was under joint control and available to Australian forces. It noted that \u2018in the event of the USA being at war \u2026 Australian territory and Australian facilities must not be used in any way that would involve Australia without the prior knowledge and consent of the Australian government\u2019. Australia\u2019s involvement in a war, it made clear, was a sovereign decision.<\/p>\n

These conditions were applied to the agreements over the joint installations at Pine Gap and Nurrungar later in the decade. \u2018Prior knowledge and consent\u2019 was cemented by the Hawke government in the 1980s<\/a>, and Australian participation was agreed in the management and operations of the facilities at all levels. They effectively became part of the Australian order of battle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back in the 1960s, the federal conference, not the parliamentary party, determined this outcome. Numerous subsequent reforms have changed the Labor Party from a federal party of state machines to a national party. It includes federal and state parliamentary leadership and some federal politicians, with the other delegates proportionately elected based on state population sizes.<\/p>\n

The national conference reflects those changes and provides greater authority to those effectively elected by the people. It reinforces a new era of the US alliance, with sovereign control and self-reliance at its core. This is why its embrace of AUKUS as a core Labor value is so significant.<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s new AUKUS platform represents the views of the broader Australian community. The 2023 Lowy Institute poll<\/a> noted that two-thirds of Australians (67%) support the decision to acquire SSNs under AUKUS.<\/p>\n

The conference debate fundamentally reflects a wider debate within the nation. At the core of this stands our understanding of the changing regional order and Australia\u2019s role and approach to maintaining peace and prosperity.<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s stance reflects broader community concerns about the Indo-Pacific strategic order, increasing foreign interference, espionage and cyberattacks on Australia. It\u2019s an acknowledgement of the risks posed to Australian interests and values in our region including by the massive and opaque increase in China\u2019s military capabilities, its use of coercive tactics across the region, its extensive nuclear weapons modernisation, its support for North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons program, and it\u2019s \u2018no limits\u2019 friendship with Russia.<\/p>\n

AUKUS also recognises that this is not a Labor problem, or a national problem, or even a problem for the US alliance to resolve. It\u2019s an Indo-Pacific regional problem. It\u2019s about the type of multipolar order emerging in our region. As Foreign Minister Penny Wong noted<\/a> at the National Press Club in April, it\u2019s about how \u2018we contribute to the regional balance of power that keeps the peace by shaping the region we want \u2026 to avert conflict and maintain peace. That is what the countries of the region want too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s 2023 platform represents a genuine change in its approach to defence and national security. As with the issues addressed in 1963, this platform is driven by the changing risks our nation faces, and 2023 goes down in history alongside the revolutionary changes at the 1963 Labor conference. No one wants to have to spend more on defence or to adopt new capabilities to increase our national security. But Labor\u2019s adoption of the AUKUS pact is reflective, as the prime minister noted in his conference address, of \u2018analysing the world as it is rather than as we would want it to be\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian Labor Party debates on defence policy are often full of passion and vigour, especially those involving regional security, nuclear issues and the alliance with the United States. 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