Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, , 4:11:00 to 4:12:50
Officials discuss Australia's obligations under the Treaty of Rarotonga and the policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons on visiting platforms.
Topics: ADF, International law, National security
Speakers: David Shoebridge, Meghan Quinn
Well, of course, Foreign Minister Wong in her April 2023 National Press Club address made it very clear that Orca submarines visiting Australia would be conventionally armed and made it very clear to the public. Well, of course, now the US has changed its policy. It's investing billions of dollars to enable its Virginia class submarines um to have nuclear armed sea launched capable ballistic missiles. Um, at any point has the government come forward and told the public, well, actually what we were saying before about them not being nuclear armed, well, that's now wrong because the US has changed its policy. And while we're not going to confirm or deny, there is absolutely a very real possib possibility or as Representative McCall says, it's logical to assume that now US Virginia class submarines, at least some of them will be nuclear armed. Have have you come clean with the Australian public and said this at any point? Uh so Senator,
you asked you you you you're making a whole series of assumptions uh in your question to officials around uh testimony or discussion of a US official projecting that to be US official policy. That is an assumption that I cannot verify on the basis of the information you've provided. The Australian government's been very clear um and uh we have obligations under the treaty of Roratunga. We have also been clear about the nuclear um propulsion capability which is very different from nuclear weapons. Um and so I I have nothing to add to the official government statements which have been very clear about government policy.