In the lead-up to the federal election, calls to scrap or, at the very least, closely scrutinise the AUKUS military pact are growing.

Britain has announced a parliamentary inquiry into AUKUS and the United States is also reviewing the $368 billion dollar nuclear-powered submarine deal.

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Meanwhile, the major parties are using this election campaign to recommit their support to AUKUS. This is despite the nuclear-powered submarines being unlikely to materialise or, at least, not in the original timeframe.

The April 9 Sydney Morning Herald editorial backed calls for an inquiry into the nuclear submarine deal, saying “the world has changed since the AUKUS deal was inked”. It pointed to Trump’s “conflation of tariffs with defence”, which, it said, was “confusing”.

“When such a once-reliable........

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