‘Not the deal promised’: Labor’s Ed Husic questions Aukus pact that will deliver secondhand subs

Virginia-class USS North Dakota. Ed Husic says Australia can’t realistically expect US submarines to be handed over in the early 2030s under Aukus. Photograph: Us Navy/Reuters View image in fullscreen Virginia-class USS North Dakota. Ed Husic says Australia can’t realistically expect US submarines to be handed over in the early 2030s under Aukus. Photograph: Us Navy/Reuters ‘Not the deal promised’: Labor’s Ed Husic questions Aukus pact that will deliver secondhand subs Former frontbencher launches most significant internal criticism of $368bn Aukus deal since ALP national conference in 2023 Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia needs a backup plan for the Aukus submarine agreement, Labor MP Ed Husic has warned, arguing sluggish American production and the “transactional nature” of the Trump administration have put the multi-billion-dollar defence deal at risk. The defence minister, Richard Marles, this week agreed to US requests for Australia to accept three second-hand Virginia-class nuclear submarines, rather than a combination of new and old vessels . Husic spoke out during a closed-door meeting of the Labor caucus on Tuesday. It was the most significant internal criticism of the $368bn deal – agreed by the Morrison government in 2021 and endorsed by the then-Labor opposition – since heated debate at the ALP national conference three years ago. Labor ultimately continued its support of the multi-decade pact. Major Aukus switch to buy only secondhand subs from US means ‘significant’ cost savings, Marles says Read more Husic said production rates of submarines in the US were too low for Australia to realistically expect boats to be handed over in the early 2030s. The deal requires the sitting US president to agree to release submarines based on the US having an adequate supply for its own navy, even though Australia is paying to boost production. “We need to be open as a nation that we are not going to get the deal that was promised to us,” Husic said. “Given how transactional the Trump administration is, you can almost imagine them saying ‘we give you these, you will do this with them’, and so there’s an active sovereignty question there. “It won’t be a renegotiation; it’s a reality about the production rates and whether or not we’ll get them. What’s the contingency? What’s the plan B?” View image in fullscreen Ed Husic at Parliament House on Tuesday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP US shipyards currently produce between 1.1 and 1.2 Virginia-class submarines each year, well below the target yearly rate of 2.33 needed for the deal to go ahead as planned. Husic said there was disquiet about Aukus within the wider party rank and file. He suggested Marles had been forced by the US to say he was happy about the new arrangements after weekend talks with his counterpart, Pete Hegseth, in Singapore. “There’s an issue about [the] reality … confronting us, about whether or