The CISS Global Forum 2022 | Can Albanese Fix AUKUS?
The CISS Global Forum 2022
Can Albanese Fix AUKUS?
Newly elected Labor Party PM Anthony Albanese faces a dilemma on nuclear submarines. During the campaign, when he received only a single day’s notice, he felt compelled to endorse the AUKUS deal to buy nuclear-powered US or UK attack submarines, so he could avoid looking weak on China. However, Albanese knows that purchasing such submarines fueled with tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) – enough for hundreds of nuclear weapons – would wreck the nonproliferation regime that his party helped build. Iran already has cited AUKUS as justification for its own production of HEU, and international inspectors cannot prevent diversion of this material for atom bombs. The webinar explores three ways that Albanese might extract Australia from this quandary.
Alan J. Kuperman teaches Military Strategy and is coordinator of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (www.NPPP.org) at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.
James Der Derian is Michael Hintze Chair of International Security and Director of the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. His research and teaching interests are in international security, information technology, international theory, and documentary film.
Join us 12.00pm (AEST) Monday 25 July 2022.