Former Labor foreign affairs minister Bob Carr has stated that the $368bn Aukus agreement amounts to officials in Canberra and Washington living a lie, asserting that Australia will never actually receive nuclear submarines from the United States. Speaking to the Australian Politics podcast reported by The Guardian, Carr described the pact as a diplomatic fiction or joke. He suggested that American-operated vessels would instead be stationed at bases in Australia, with a future US president likely deciding that China’s military might makes transferring Virginia-class submarines too difficult.
According to Carr, it has become conventional wisdom in both capitals that the submarines will not be delivered, forcing officials to contemplate alternative arrangements. The former minister, who served under Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, criticized the allocation of funds to a single defence platform under heavy budgetary pressure, warning that the technology might be overtaken by developments such as those seen in the Ukraine war.
Criticism and Government Stance on the Aukus Agreement
The $368bn Aukus agreement was originally signed in 2021 following negotiations under former prime minister Scott Morrison, US president Joe Biden, and UK prime minister Boris Johnson. The Labor Party supported the plan while in opposition. Under the schedule, the first US Virginia-class nuclear submarine is scheduled to arrive in Australia in 2032, followed by another every four years, leading up to the bespoke SSN Aukus model in 2042. However, the transfer remains subject to a future US president signing off based on domestic military demands, while US manufacturing faces notable delays and cost blowouts.
Already, Australia has paid more than $3bn toward US submarine manufacturing, aiming for total payments of about $4.6bn over the lifetime of the deal, alongside billions more committed to workforce, infrastructure, and construction. A recent crowdfunded public inquiry led by former Labor MP Peter Garrett and former chief of defence Admiral Chris Barrie characterized the plan as the riskiest defence decision in Australian history, urging its termination over fears of being dragged into a conflict with China.
Despite criticism from figures including former minister Gareth Evans and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, the current Albanese government maintains that the pact is proceeding. Defence minister Richard Marles recently stated that Aukus is absolutely happening, calling it the largest industrial project and military capability leap in the country’s history. Supporters, including former defence ministers Linda Reynolds and Christopher Pyne, continue to back the agreement, asserting that it will secure the nation and generate thousands of skilled jobs.
Source: Aukus deal is ‘living a lie’: Australia will never get nuclear submarines from US and both sides know it, Bob Carr says (source-feed timestamp 2026-11-13T02:00:05+00:00). AI-assisted report based on the cited linked article and its RSS feed; details were not independently verified.
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