Richard Marles ‘very confident’ Aukus is ‘going to happen’
The defence minister, Richard Marles, just spoke on ABC radio in Melbourne, saying Australia welcomed the US review into Aukus, calling it “perfectly natural”. He said:
I’m very confident this is going to happen.
Look, I think the review that’s been announced is not a surprise, we’ve been aware of this for some time. We welcome it, it’s something which is perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do …
I think as Aukus goes forward over many decades and governments come and go I think that what you’ll see is incoming governments, quite reasonably, look at reviewing how they can best engage what is a multi-decade arrangement.
Key events
Tom McIlroy
Turnbull doesn’t think Australia will get any US-made submarines from Aukus
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says he doesn’t believe Australia will receive any US manufactured submarines, and has called for federal parliament to launch its own review of the Aukus deal.
Speaking on ABC radio after the shock announcement of a review by the Pentagon, Turnbull says the shortfall for America’s own submarine manufacturing means US president Donald Trump is unlikely to approve any vessels being transferred to Australia. Turnbull said:
There is literally a denial of reality in Canberra. I have sat with senior officials in our defence establishment and said to them: ‘What is your plan if we don’t get any Virginia class submarines from the US’ … they have looked back at me and said: ‘We will get the submarines’.
This is like saying, ‘I’m going to have a party in the garden on Sunday’, and you say to me, ‘what will you do if it rains? And I look back at you and say, ‘it won’t rain’.
Turnbull says Australia’s problem is Trump can choose not to continue with the agreement, a decision which is conditional on America having sufficient submarines for their own use.
He says federal parliament is the “least curious” about the deal, after both the UK and US have launched reviews of the deal.
If we do not get Virginia class submarines from the Americans, it is not the Americans reneging on the deal or breaking on the deal, they are complying with the deal.
Tom McIlroy
Former Labor senator says PM should launch own Aukus review, and consider leaving agreement
Former Labor senator Doug Cameron says the Albanese government should launch its own review of the Aukus program, and consider exiting the agreement with the US and UK. Cameron, part of the ALP members group opposed to the nuclear submarine deal called Labor Against War, says the deal needs more scrutiny in Canberra.
He said:
Australians spend more time and due diligence reviewing the purchase of a television or a car than the Labor frontbench spent kicking the tyres on Aukus.
With Donald Trump’s Pentagon announcing a review, it’s high time the Labor government had the courage to initiate an independent review to ensure the Australian people aren’t being taken to the cleaners while dragged into US war planning.
Two bodies found in Sydney granny flat, police say
NSW police are investigating after two bodies were found in a granny flat behind a property in Sydney’s northern beaches overnight.
Police responded to calls for a welfare check in the suburb of Forestville around 9.30pm last night. Upon arrival, authorities found the bodies of a man believed to be in his 40s and a woman thought to be in her 50s. The bodies have not been formally identified.
A crime scene has been established, with an investigation opened alongside the homicide squad.
Powerful US Democrat says US review of Aukus ‘will be met with cheers in Beijing’
US senator Jeanne Shaheen, a powerful Democrat, said in a statement this morning the news on Aukus “will be met with cheers in Beijing, which is already celebrating America’s global pullback and our strained ties with allies under President Trump”. She said:
Scrapping this partnership would further tarnish America’s reputation and raise more questions among our closest defense partners about our reliability. And at a moment when we face mounting threats from the PRC and Russia, we should be encouraging our partners to raise their defense spending and partnering with them on the latest technologies – not doing the opposite.
Marles says Australia needs to stick with Aukus or it will never get submarine capability
Marles said getting nuclear-powered submarine capability is something that takes decades. He told ABC radio:
If you don’t stick to a plan, actually the decision in that moment that you are making is not to have the capability. Because if you chop and change every three years, you will never in fact build a submarine.
Our focus is on sticking to this plan and on seeing it through … Because that’s the way in which we get the capability.
Richard Marles ‘very confident’ Aukus is ‘going to happen’
The defence minister, Richard Marles, just spoke on ABC radio in Melbourne, saying Australia welcomed the US review into Aukus, calling it “perfectly natural”. He said:
I’m very confident this is going to happen.
Look, I think the review that’s been announced is not a surprise, we’ve been aware of this for some time. We welcome it, it’s something which is perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do …
I think as Aukus goes forward over many decades and governments come and go I think that what you’ll see is incoming governments, quite reasonably, look at reviewing how they can best engage what is a multi-decade arrangement.
Former US Navy chief praises Aukus ‘statecraftery’
Following on from our earlier post:
Former US Navy secretary Richard Spencer told ABC RN Breakfast Aukus was one of the “best bits of statecraftery” in the last 50 years.
Spencer added he believes Aukus brings together the US and two of its strongest allies, Australia and the UK. He added:
I think it’s completely normal for the Trump administration to do a review. To see if it does actually fit and check all the boxes that the president wants for his national security and ‘America First’ agenda.
Tom McIlroy
Greens say Aukus deal ‘sinking’ and should be abandoned
The Greens say the Aukus submarines deal “is sinking” and Australia should abandon it – and stop sending money to the US for nuclear submarines.
The Greens’ defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said the Trump administration’s review of the deal was the final nail in the coffin of the $375bn agreement and it was time for action in Canberra. He called for a parliamentary inquiry to allow proper scrutiny, including from critics of the plan outside the Coalition and Labor. Shoebridge said in a statement:
Donald Trump is erratic, reckless and careless of America’s allies and alliances but he does have one fairly constant trait, he puts US interests first and allies last.
The USA reviewing AUKUS shows what the Greens have been warning about for years – this deal makes Australia a junior partner in America’s military strategy, not an equal ally.
Trump will use this review to either terminate AUKUS and pocket the money already paid or extract an even more eye-watering sum from Australia to stay in the sinking project without any hard promises for the US to deliver.
Former US Navy secretary not worried by Aukus review: ‘I think this is business as usual’
Richard Spencer, who served as the US secretary of the Navy for two years during Trump’s first term, said he wasn’t particularly worried about the Pentagon review of Aukus. He told RN Breakfast:
I think this is business as usual. I actually welcome the review because every time something is reviewed, questioned, and answered, I believe it strengthens the actual precepts of the agreement itself. So I don’t think there’s a tremendous amount to worry about.
Might it change a bit? It might on the edges. I think the core remains the same.
Tom McIlroy
Leeser says PM should urgently set Trump meeting on sidelines of G7
Coalition frontbencher Julian Leeser says Anthony Albanese needs to urgently secure a meeting with Donald Trump in Canada next week, after the announcement of the Aukus review overnight. He told ABC radio:
This is part of a growing list of issues in our relationship with the United States that took another hit.
Leeser called on Albanese to guarantee a direct meeting on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada. Negotiations about a possible meeting have been ongoing but could be slowed down by sanctions put in place by Labor on rightwing members of the Israeli government this week. Leeser said:
Aukus is so important to Australia’s security. It was originally Coalition policy. It has bipartisan support. But it’s very important that the prime minister actually puts the case here.
Leeser said Albanese opted not to go to the United States to lobby the White House on trade tariffs. But on the submarine pact, Leeser said the prime minister needs “to ensure that the commitments that we were promised are secured”.
Turnbull suggests Australia should ‘wake up’ and review Aukus ourselves
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has chimed in amid the US review of the Aukus. He wrote on X:
The UK is conducting a review of AUKUS. The US DoD is conducting a review of AUKUS. But Australia, which has the most at stake, has no review. Our Parliament to date has been the least curious and least informed. Time to wake up?
The UK is conducting a review of AUKUS. The US DoD is conducting a review of AUKUS. But Australia, which has the most at stake, has no review. Our Parliament to date has been the least curious and least informed. Time to wake up?
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) June 11, 2025
Israeli minister says sanctions imposed by Australia and other countries ‘don’t interest me’
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and one of the pair hit with sanctions, mocked them in a speech overnight. RN Breakfast had a transcript of his remarks:
I don’t know what I’m going to do now with my assets in the UK and my bank accounts in New Zealand. Thank God, I have no assets either in Israel or abroad.
Those who acquire assets acquire worries, you see. These sanctions don’t interest me, and I have no business in these antisemitic countries.
You can read more about the sanctions here:
Shadow attorney general says Coalition has ‘real questions’ over sanctions imposed on Israeli officials
Julian Leeser, the shadow attorney general, said the Coalition has “real questions” about the sanctions announced yesterday against two Israeli cabinet ministers. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said at the time the ministers were “inciting violence against Palestinians” in the West Bank. Leeser told RN Breakfast the sanctions were a “very serious step”, saying they suggested Australia was lowering the threshold for applying them:
The big question here is whether this is a new standard that will be applied to the public comments of officials from other countries. Because if this is the new standard, it will have serious implications for our international relations.
Leeser said the two Israeli ministers’ far-right views don’t reflect those of the Coalition and the bipartisan support in Australia for a two-state solution.
People are right to disagree and condemn, but what the government is doing here is it’s using a sanctions regime which was designed to deal with human rights abuses and terrorist acts … But these people are being sanctioned not because of terrorist acts or human rights abuses, but because of public comments.
And if that standard is applied in other places too, this will cause serious issues in our international relations.
