‘Get on with the job’: Morrison urges action on turning AUKUS plan into reality as sub production lags

The Pentagon’s former top AUKUS adviser has urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to appoint a special tsar to drive forward the pact and ensure opportunities to gain a crucial military edge over China are not lost after US President Donald Trump gave the partnership his enthusiastic backing.

Abraham Denmark, who co-ordinated the US Defence Department’s AUKUS efforts under Joe Biden, said he was confident the United States would sell Australia at least three Virginia-class submarines as promised despite continuing doubts over the American navy’s ability to meet its own requirements.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison echoed Denmark’s comments, saying it was time to draw a line under the “endless speculation” about AUKUS’s future and focus on turning the plan into a reality.

Abraham Denmark believes AUKUS has an “indestructible” political foundation after receiving US President Donald Trump’s backing.Credit: US Defence

“AUKUS has now been approved by the leaders of all six major parties in the partner countries so that gives AUKUS an indestructible political foundation,” said Denmark, who served as a key architect of the nuclear-powered submarine plan.

“There’s been a lot of studying, a lot of Sturm und Drang, now it’s time to get cracking.”

Denmark pushed back on claims from AUKUS sceptics such as former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull that the next American president was likely to decline to sell Australia any nuclear-powered submarines as planned in 2032 because of the US navy’s slow rate of production.

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“I feel very confident that the United States is going to fulfil its pledge regardless of whoever is next elected president because it’s in our interest to do so,” Denmark said.

“I think the specific timing largely depends on Australia and its ability to build its own sovereign capability and capacities, but in terms of the political commitment, I don’t think we’re going to get much better than what we have already.”

He acknowledged, however, that the production rate for Virginia-class submarines in the US was “not where it needs to be”.

“The United States has been and will likely continue to make significant investments in the submarine industrial base to try to improve our production numbers,” he said.

Admiral Daryl Caudle, the US Navy’s operations chief, said in July that the US would have to almost double its production rate of Virginia-class submarines from 1.2 to 2.2 boats a year to be able to spare any for Australia.

Morrison, who spearheaded the creation of AUKUS, said fears about Trump junking the pact had been overstated, and it was time to “get on with the job”.

He told this masthead he hoped Trump’s backing for the pact “enables a more helpful and mature conversation about AUKUS” without descending into a binary debate over whether the US would support the submarine plan or not.

Denmark, now a partner at the Asia Group consultancy, said he was more concerned about the so-called “pillar II” of AUKUS, which is designed to spur innovation on advanced military technologies such as hypersonic weapons, undersea capabilities, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

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It is widely acknowledged among defence insiders and experts that pillar II has failed to deliver on its transformative potential since AUKUS was announced four years ago.

“It’s going to require significant focus and leadership from all three governments to get tangible trilateral capabilities at pace and at scale,” Denmark said.

“What pillar II needs to produce is something that has a tangible impact on deterrence, on military capabilities, and hopefully, we’re able to make progress on that over the next few years.”

He nominated uncrewed systems – such as drones and autonomous underwater vessels – as a prime opportunity to deliver results.

Denmark called for the Albanese government and Trump administration to follow British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint a special representative on AUKUS to ensure a senior official was devoted solely to advancing the pact.

Starmer appointed veteran public servant Stephen Lovegrove as his special representative on AUKUS in April.

“I think it would help drive activity and focus in each country’s system if President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese were to appoint counterparts to advise them directly and drive decision-making,” he said.

During the White House meeting between Trump and Albanese, US Navy Secretary John Phelan said the US wanted to clear up areas of “ambiguity” in the original AUKUS plan.

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As reported by this masthead, senior Australian officials believe Phelan may have been referring to entrenching the presence of up to four US nuclear-powered submarines at HMAS Stirling, near Perth, from 2027.

Denmark said having regular access to the naval base was “very important from an operational point of view” for the US Navy.

“Having the ability to operate from Western Australia into the Indian Ocean, into the South China Sea, is a deeply strategic opportunity for the United States,” he said.

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