A revamped AUKUS agreement has paved the way for the transfer of naval nuclear material to Australia for the country's future submarine fleet. AUKUS critics have expressed concerns the deal could lead to Australia becoming a deposit for radioactive waste. Defence Minister Richard Marles insists AUKUS milestone won't force Australia to accept foreign nuclear waste.
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00:00This is a pretty critical step and a key moment in our quest towards getting these nuclear-powered
00:08submarines that we've agreed to get under this massive $386 billion AUKUS submarine
00:16deal.
00:17Essentially, this revamped agreement is an agreement between the AUKUS partners, the
00:21UK, Australia and the US to facilitate the transfer of naval nuclear materials to Australia.
00:32There have been some concerns from some green groups about this revamped agreement, particularly
00:39about the undisclosed political commitments that could be a part of this revamped agreement.
00:46This morning, Defence Minister Richard Marles has been really quick to bat away any concerns
00:51about Australia becoming a dumping ground for nuclear waste.
00:56He says this revamped agreement is a foundational document, it is a really critical document
01:04for us to actually reach the point where we have these nuclear-powered submarines in the
01:09country and when it comes to whether or not we will be a nuclear dumping ground as a result
01:15of this revamped agreement.
01:17He's had this to say this morning.
01:19There's no other things that people will seek to spread misinformation about in terms of
01:25what this may or may not be about.
01:27What this is, is the legal underpinning of what we have already agreed and in terms of
01:33that nuclear waste issue that you raised at the start, that is an utter therapy.
01:38That is not what is going on here.
01:40We are responsible for our nuclear waste and we made that clear in March of last year and
01:45there's a process underway in respect of that and to remind you that the first moment
01:49in which we will need to be disposing of our own nuclear reactors will be in the 2050s,
01:54so we have time to get that right.
01:57So Oliver, tell us about this renewed criticism of the AUKUS deal by a former Prime Minister.
02:03Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has been a critic of the AUKUS agreement for some time
02:09now.
02:10He attended the 7.30 program last night and renewed that criticism.
02:15Previously he's called the AUKUS agreement the worst deal in history.
02:20He focused in on other parts of our agreement with the US, particularly the fact that we'll
02:26now be seeing more US troops cycling through Australia.
02:32He thinks this sends the wrong message to our region.
02:35He's renewed his criticism of the Albanese government's choice to be part of this US
02:42alliance and have us so closely aligned to the US.
02:47He had some pretty pointed comments on the 7.30 program.
02:51Here's what former Prime Minister Paul Keating had to say.
02:56The Albanese government in their policy is likely to turn Australia into the 51st state
03:05of the United States.
03:07We're now defending the fact that we're in AUKUS.
03:10If we weren't in AUKUS, we wouldn't need to defend it.
03:13Let me amplify the point.
03:14That is, if we didn't have an aggressive ally like the United States, aggressive to others
03:21in the region, there'd be nobody attacking Australia.
03:26Former Prime Minister Paul Keating there criticising the AUKUS agreement once again.
03:31We have heard the Defence Minister Richard Myles again this morning.
03:35He wasn't directly responding to Paul Keating's comments, but just reaffirming Australia's
03:40commitment to that alliance with the US.
03:44He says the reason we're in this US alliance is because we've done a pretty comprehensive
03:49look at our strategic position and that is the decision that the Albanese government
03:55has made that keeping close ties with the US is the best thing for our country.