“But let me be clear:Australia is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or establish a civil nuclear capability. And we will continue to meet all our nuclear non-proliferation obligations.”
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Albanese has promised tobuild up the defence industry in Adelaide to build the submarines.
“We see this as about defending our nation and our national security,but it is also about industry policy and about building up our capacity which has a spin-off,” he said alongside South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas on February 23.
TheFinancial Times reported on Tuesday that the announcement would be held next week,while American news siteBreaking Defensesaid it had confirmed the San Diego location. Other sources confirmed to this masthead that the announcement would be in San Diego on Monday.
A spokesman for the prime minister would not comment on the timing,location or nature of the announcement.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last week dismissed the option of building the Astute class submarine used by the UK,suggesting instead it would be wiser to choose the Virginia class used by the US. Another nuclear submarine type,the Columbia class in the US,is regarded as too large for Australia’s requirements.
Joe Biden and Anthony Albanese are planning to meet next week in San Diego.Credit:James Brickwood
The first boat in the new Australian fleet is meant to begin operation from 2039 at the earliest,according to timelines issued over the past year,but the scale of the task has led to speculation thatsome of the first vessels could be built in the US if the Virginia class is chosen.
But the company building the Virginia class submarines,the electric boat division of General Dynamics,has a long backlog of orders from the US government and would face challenges in supplying additional boats to help Australia.
General Dynamicssaid last month it was building the Virginia class submarines at the rate of two per year and had a backlog of 17 vessels on order from the US to be delivered by 2032.
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US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said last September that Biden wanted the AUKUS partnership to go beyond submarines and into fields such as cyber and artificial intelligence.
“We feel very good about the trilateral co-operation on the submarine program. We think that we have a good path forward,” Sullivan said on September 30 when asked about the first year of the pact.
“I will just say that our three countries are very much on the same page about the path forward. And there has been significant progress from concept,one year ago,to now,the process of actually putting this in place.”
The San Diego naval base was chosen for the announcement because Biden will be in the area on a fundraising trip.
Albanese told question time he would leave Canberra late on Tuesday and fly from Perth to India on Wednesday for meetings on renewable energy,trade and security.
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“Our defence links are growing,” the prime minister said,noting that Australia would host the Exercise Malabar military exercises with India and other countries for the first time this year.
Albanese will also host Biden,Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ata meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue in Sydney in the first half of this year.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletterhere.