The government has announced, in its usual over-the-top manner, reforms to the export licensing system between Australia, the US and the UK. While this is fine in principle, it is based on an absolute lie, namely that Australia exports $5 billion worth of military technology to those partner countries. This is a joke. We sell some F-35 components to the US and almost nothing to the UK. The true figure is likely to be one twentieth of the government’s claim. At the same time, former Minister for Foreign Affairs was giving a speech with the title: “AUKUS – the worst defence and foreign policy decision our country has made.” More to come on this. Then let’s talk a bit more about the advantages of nuclear propulsion versus conventional – and many of the claimed differences don’t stand up to rigorous scrutiny. Also technological advances are making the South China Sea too difficult to operate a crewed submarine in today – let alone 10 years from now.

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