Marles, Conroy happy for Australia to be AUKUS’ supplicating friend

AUKUS is becoming increasingly complex and problematically conditional.

From the standpoint of logistics, training, submarine acquisition, personnel education, recruitment of staff, and the very issue of sharing nuclear technology, the agreement is proving more complex than ever for Canberran officialdom to manage let alone negotiate.

But another, increasingly concerning point is the vulnerability of AUKUS to the domestic considerations of its partners, most notably the US.

Added to that is an underreported aspect of the security pact: Australia’s increasingly important role in funding the construction, not only of US Virginia class nuclear boats but other submarine ballistic missile systems in the Pentagon’s pipeline.