Australia news live: Dutton attacks ‘magic pudding’ Aukus costing; plan includes commitment to dispose of nuclear waste

Daniel Hurst is out of the Aukus lockup – here is his first take.

The main phases of the plan:

1. From this year, Australian military and civilian personnel are set to embed with the United States Navy, the United Kingdom Royal Navy “and, subject to any necessary arrangements, within the United States and United Kingdom submarine industrial bases”.

This aims to boost training and development of Australian personnel. The US will also increase nuclear-powered submarine port visits to Australia from this year, with Australian sailors joining US crews for training and development, whereas the UK is set to increase visits to Australia from 2026.

2. From 2027 at the earliest, the UK and the US plan to establish a rotational presence of one UK Astute class submarine and up to four US Virginia class submarines at HMAS Stirling near Perth, Western Australia.

This will be called ‘Submarine Rotational Force-West’ (SRF-West). The Australian government argues this rotational presence “will comply fully with Australia’s longstanding position of no foreign bases on its territory” because these submarines will be rotated through the location and will not be permanently based in Australia. The three countries argue the rotational presence will “put our nations shoulder to shoulder as Australia builds the necessary operational capabilities and skills to steward and operate its own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines”.

3. Beginning in the early 2030s, the US intends to sell Australia three Virginia class submarines, with the potential to sell up to two more if needed (all pending approval from the US Congress).

The three governments argue this is “critical to continue growing Australia’s ability to own and operate a fleet of SSNs, and to provide Australia with a sovereign capability at the earliest possible date” while not allowing a capability gap caused by the retirement of Australia’s conventional Collins class submarines from the 2030s.

4. The final phase is the delivery of the so-called “SSN-Aukus”, a nuclear-powered attack submarine based on a UK design and featuring advanced US technology. This design will eventually be used by both the UK and Australia. The first Australian-built SSN-Aukus would be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s.