Liberal leader is in damage control after his comments raised eyebrows, one analyst saying ‘there’s no way this is a plan’
Experts are critical of Peter Dutton’s claim he planned to buy two US nuclear submarines to plug a looming capability gap, as the Liberal leader goes into damage control over the disclosure.
The comments raised eyebrows, both because Australia had not formally decided whether to opt for US or UK nuclear submarines and because experts have suggested it is unlikely the US would give up two of its own submarines by 2030.Marles labelled the intervention “rank politics” and “completely inconsistent with everything Peter Dutton was doing and saying in government”.
“If Labor is going to butcher that and they don’t have the money to pay for it they should be upfront and say it.Marcus Hellyer, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Guardian Australia Dutton had “put out an idea or concept”. “Politicians shouldn’t be doing this publicly … My view is it’s not particularly helpful. The US will be thinking ‘what are these guys doing’.”
“I’m sure that the UK wouldn’t be happy to learn from a newspaper article that, potentially, their submarine is not an option and I’m sure there’s plenty of people in the US Congress, the Pentagon and other parts of the US who were very interested to read these possible developments,” Dean reportedly told the ABC.
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