Greens senator says Australia cannot defend sea trade lanes, rejecting AUKUS reasoning

Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge says Australia is too small to defend sea trade lanes like the Strait of Malacca between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and it is "ridiculous" to attempt to do so by acquiring nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement with the United States and United Kingdom.

Debate over AUKUS has flared again after the United States amended its offer to provide Australia three in-service Virginia-class submarines rather than two used submarines and one new boat.

And with many Australians feeling more disconnected from the United States, and bitterness over past failed interventions in the Middle East joined by Australia, the AUKUS agreement to deepen military ties to the US has been a flash point for whether Australia should maintain its ties or distance itself from the US.

Senator Shoebridge told ABC Insiders Australia should be considering more deeply how it deals with the tensions of a rising regional power, and looking to how Asian neighbours are managing that "complex" relationship.

"I think we should have a very realistic view about China," Senator Shoebridge said.

"And we should be looking at what our region is doing, which is trying to come up with a balanced approach to China and not go down a warpath with Washington.

"We should have a complex relationship with China, but it shouldn't be entirely managed through Washington's war plans."

'Ridiculous' to attempt to defend sea trade lanes: Shoebridge

In 2021, the federal government decided to abandon its contract with France to produce a conventional submarine replacement for Australia's aging Collins-class fleet in favour of a nuclear-powered option through the US and UK that could operate at deep sea for longer and project force far from Australia's shores.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said late last month that a key reason Australia needed nuclear-powered submarines was to be able to project force and protect Australia's sea trade.

"And the free and open passage of goods, energy, and data across the seas is not just Australia's economic lifeblood, it is the economic lifeblood of this entire region," Mr Marles told the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Senator Shoebridge said Australia needed to be able to defend its maritime approaches and the continent.

But he said it was ridiculous to think an economy the size of Australia could have a "global policing role" thousands of kilometres away in sea lanes in the South China Sea or at the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is blockading fuel transports.

The Greens senator said that defence could be achieved with a much more "modest" force.

"The only rationale for nuclear-powered submarines is to project force thousands and thousands of kilometres from our shore. In this case, the whole focus for AUKUS is for us to have, at some potential point, a handful of nuclear submarines that are part of a much bigger US deployment off the coast of China," he said.

"That's what you need nuclear submarines for, not to defend Australia."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed Senator Shoebridge's comments.

"We won't be taking advice on defence from the Greens political party, with respect. What we will be doing is providing Australia with the defence assets that we need," Mr Albanese said.

"We’re an island continent, it makes sense for an island continent to prioritise its naval fleet.

"We can see what is happening with the Strait of Hormuz being closed, the difference that makes to an economy … so we are developing the assets Australia needs in partnership with our traditional allies."

Mr Albanese added that Australia promoted peace in the region, and had a constructive relationship with China.

The question of Australia's capability to keep trade lanes open has become more urgent since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

After Iran's blockade, Indonesia's finance minister briefly floated the idea of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore collectively imposing a toll on the Malacca Strait, the key trade route connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans through which a quarter of the world's trade passes.

While that idea was quickly shot down, it caused nervousness in Australia and abroad that the foundations of open trade, including free navigation of the seas, have become shakier.

Senator Shoebridge said Australia would not be capable of keeping trade lanes open and should instead focus on diplomacy.

"We're not a global superpower, we're not here in order to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, to keep open the Strait of Malacca. It's thousands of kilometres from our shore and it's beyond our capacity militarily to do that," he said.

"I see a role for us working with our neighbours to try and prevent global conflicts shutting down trade links in our regions."

The senator also cast doubt on whether Australia would receive even the three in-service submarines now agreed to by the United States.

Senator Shoebridge said for those to be delivered, it would require the sign-off of the secretary of US Navy, who must assure that the boats are surplus to US requirements, and then in the early 2030s a certificate from the president to Congress assuring that giving Australia the submarines would not undermine US capacity.

A US congressional committee, meanwhile, has warned President Donald Trump's plans to build 15 new "Trump-class" battleships will cause further delays in American shipyards, which would put the AUKUS deal further into doubt.

Mr Albanese said he was not concerned about the future of AUKUS.

"AUKUS is full steam ahead, from later this year there will be further US mariners arriving in WA as part of the rotational fleet that will occur there," he said.

Senator Shoebridge said alternatives to AUKUS were available, including a more mixed force of weapons platforms that included crewed and uncrewed submarines, or reconsidering previous offers by Japan and Korea.