In short:
The defence minister says there is no circumstance where Australia would accept radioactive waste from foreign nations.
Critics of the AUKUS deal claimed Thursday’s milestone could oblige Australia to take waste from the US and UK.
What’s next?
The agreement will see secret nuclear information shared with Australia, and plans progressed to acquire second-hand nuclear submarines.
The defence minister insists Thursday’s milestone agreement on AUKUS does not oblige Australia to take nuclear waste from the United States or the United Kingdom.
Australia and the US made significant progress on Thursday towards acquiring nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement, in a deal that included undisclosed “political commitments” to Australia’s partner nations, the US and the UK.
Critics of the nuclear submarine plan claimed that the deal would eventually oblige Australia to take high-level radioactive waste from the US and UK.
Defence Minister Richard Marles insisted on Friday morning that was not the case.
“Nuclear waste won’t end up in Australia, other than the waste that is generated by Australia,” Mr Marles said.
“That is the agreement that we reached with the UK and the US back in March of last year, and so all this is doing is providing for the legal underpinning of that.”
Mr Marles said there would be “no circumstance” where Australia takes waste from any other country.
Instead, Thursday’s agreement would allow for the transfer of nuclear naval technology to Australia, including restricted data never shared outside the US and UK.
The agreement also progresses plans to transfer second-hand US Virginia-class submarines to Australia, while its own submarines are being built.
Mr Marles also defended himself after Labor luminary and vocal critic of the AUKUS deal Paul Keating repeated his criticisms of the program and the minister.
Mr Keating claimed that the Albanese government had sold out Labor values by adopting AUKUS from the former Morrison government, and said Mr Marles’s comments while in the US would make “any Labor person cringe”.
Mr Marles said that criticism was “not fair”, but said Mr Keating had a right to express his view.
