Australian ex-minister launches crowd-funded inquiry into Aukus submarine deal

A former environment minister will head up a crowd-funded review of the multi-billion-dollar Aukus submarine deal, Australia's biggest ever defence project.

Peter Garrett, who served as environment minister between 2007 and 2010, said an independent inquiry into the A$368bn ($239bn; £176bn) deal - where Australia will buy second-hand US submarines to replace its ageing fleet - was "long overdue".

Garrett, the frontman of rock band Midnight Oil, said Aukus was the "most expensive" defence deal ever in Australia but the chance to "question, debate and decide has been taken out of the hands of the parliament and the people".

The review will hold public hearings with a report due in October.

Garrett will lead the inquiry with four other commissioners including Admiral Chris Barrie, the former chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Carmen Lawrence, a former premier of Western Australia.

Karen Lester, the daughter of an Aboriginal man who went blind due to British nuclear tests in South Australia in the 1950s, will also be one of the inquiry's commissioners.

Independent MPs David Pocock and Andrew Wilkie have thrown their support behind the review, which is being organised by not-for-profit group Australian Peace and Security Forum.

Other supporters include former MPs, retired military and naval officers, human rights lawyers and union leaders.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government welcomed "appropriate oversight and transparency" of the submarine deal.

One of the issues the five-month inquiry will look at is whether acquiring the nuclear-powered attack submarines will make Australia safer and what impact it will have on the country's standing in terms of regional peace and security.

Key questions the inquiry wants to answer include whether Australia will receive the submarines it will pay for, where and how the nuclear waste will be stored, and if the deal undermines the country's sovereignty.

The inquiry will also ask how the deal will affect Australia's relationship with China, its largest trading partner.

The Aukus deal was first announced in September 2021 and while it is not explicitly stated, it is believed to be about countering China's growing presence in the Indo-Pacific region, and its role in rising tensions in disputed territories such as the South China Sea.

China condemned the agreement as "extremely irresponsible" when it was first announced.

Earlier this week, the government detailed changes to the deal, with Australia to buy three second-hand submarines from the US, replacing a former agreement that Australia would get at least one new vessel.

From 2027, the pact will allow both the US and UK to base a small number of nuclear submarines in Perth, Western Australia.