AUKUS agreement: Trump official questions Australia's commitment amid Pentagon review

The Age

5 days ago

'That's still a jump ball as far as I'm concerned. Because the Australians have been noticeably fickle. We need to understand, Australia has a population of around 30 million people. It's a remarkably small tax base, and they are making a significant tax investment in this over the next 10 years.'
A jump ball in basketball is similar to a ball-up in Australian Rules Football, where either team has a chance of gaining control of the play. Both Labor and the Coalition have expressed consistent commitment to AUKUS.
Hendrix has also argued AUKUS does not provide enough capacity for Australian shipyards to repair American and British submarines, as well as Australian ones, and the US should 'more heavily leverage' the agreement.
He has said of Australia and the Philippines: 'We're going to need them and their assistance and their basing rights and infrastructure, and I don't think they're ready to host Americans in the way that we're going to need to be hosted to do a counter-campaign to the Chinese invasion.'
Hendrix appears to have deleted a number of posts on X about Australia and AUKUS. In one that is still online, from April 2024, he said there were two key questions – 'whether the Australian government will sustain their commitment across the coming years and change of governments', and 'whether the US will actually be willing to give up Virginia-class boats'.
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Last week, Hendrix welcomed a news story that reported the Pentagon was asking Australia and Japan to make clear commitments about what they would do in a conflict between the US and China over Taiwan.
'Given these nations [are] critical [to] the task of logistically supporting US forces should we come to the aid of Taiwan, this inquiry is legitimate,' he said. 'I would be shocked to find that the previous administration hadn't asked the partners.'
Reached by text, Hendrix declined to comment and referred questions to the White House. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly supplied a statement that said US shipbuilding had been neglected for decades and would be boosted by a $US43 billion ($66 billion) investment in the president's One Big Beautiful Bill.
'No president has done more to bolster American maritime power, and his White House Office of Shipbuilding will operate under the Office of Management and Budget,' she said.
In their letter to Hegseth, Republican committee chair John Moolenaar and Democratic representative Raja Krishnamoorthi said AUKUS had bipartisan support in Congress for a reason, and that it would strengthen US security as well as that of Australia and the United Kingdom. They noted Beijing's 'unprecedented' live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea in February.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth watches a display of drone technology at the Pentagon on Wednesday. Credit: AP
'This attempt to project power as far south as New Zealand's front door highlights the importance of AUKUS in cementing ties to longstanding allies like Australia, as well as advancing vital undersea capabilities that will be central to deterrence,' they wrote. 'We are stronger together under the AUKUS framework.'
The committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday in Washington on strategies to counter economic coercion by the Chinese Communist Party against democracies. Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, who brokered the AUKUS deal, is scheduled to appear, as is former US senator and ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel.
Undersecretary of defence for policy Elbridge Colby, who is heading the Pentagon's AUKUS review, has posted actively on social media over the past fortnight, doubling down on his calls for American allies to 'step up'.
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'No one at the Pentagon is asking for a blank cheque from our allies. Rather, the United States and our allies all benefit from a reasonable expectation of what contributions we can anticipate each other to make,' he said on Monday, US time.
'That is why we are working closely with our allies to align expectations, an approach akin to what we have with NATO and South Korea. This will make our alliances sturdier and more equitable. That's just common sense.'
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