'Beyond our capacity' to defend sea trade lanes, Shoebridge says

David Shoebridge says Australia does not have the capacity to defend sea trade lanes thousands of kilometres from its shore. (ABC News: Matt Roberts) David Shoebridge says Australia is too small to be able to defend global sea trade lanes. The Greens senator says pursuing AUKUS only obliges Australia to join a US-China conflict, and the nation should instead focus on diplomacy. Australia is pursuing an agreement with the United States to acquire three in-service Virginia-class submarines. Link copiedShareShare articleGreens defence spokesman David Shoebridge says Australia is too small to defend sea trade lanes like the Strait of Malacca between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and it is "ridiculous" to attempt to do so by acquiring nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement with the United States and United Kingdom. Debate over AUKUS has flared again after the United States amended its offer to provide Australia three in-service Virginia-class submarines rather than two used submarines and one new boat. And with many Australians feeling more disconnected from the United States, and bitterness over past failed interventions in the Middle East joined by Australia, the AUKUS agreement to deepen military ties to the US has been a flash point for whether Australia should maintain its ties or distance itself from the US. Senator Shoebridge told ABC Insiders Australia should be considering more deeply how it deals with the tensions of a rising regional power, and looking to how Asian neighbours are managing that "complex" relationship. "I think we should have a very realistic view about China," Senator Shoebridge said. "And we should be looking at what our region is doing, which is trying to come up with a balanced approach to China and not go down a warpath with Washington. "We should have a complex relationship with China, but it shouldn't be entirely managed through Washington's war plans." In 2021, the federal government decided to abandon its contract with France to produce a conventional submarine replacement for Australia's ageing Collins-class fleet in favour of a nuclear-powered option through the US and UK that could operate at deep sea for longer and project force far from Australia's shores. Defence Minister Richard Marles said late last month that a key reason Australia needed nuclear-powered submarines was to be able to project force and protect Australia's sea trade. "And the free and open passage of goods, energy, and data across the seas is not just Australia's economic lifeblood, it is the economic lifeblood of this entire region," Mr Marles told the Shangri-La Dialogue. Richard Marles says the reason to acquire AUKUS submarines is so that Australia can defend its trade interests. (ABC News: Matt Roberts) Senator Shoebridge said Australia needed to be able to defend its maritime approaches and the continent. But he said it was ridiculous to think an economy the size of Australia could have a "global policing role" thousands of kilometres away in sea lanes in the South China Sea or at the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is blockading fuel transports. The Greens senator said that defence could be achieved with a much more "modest" force. "The only rationale for nuclear-powered submarines is to project force thousands and thousands of kilometres from our shore. In this case, the whole focus for AUKUS is for us to have, at some potential point, a handful of nuclear submarines that are part of a much bigger US deployment off the coast of China," he said. "Why are we inviting ourselves to a US war with China by buying these weapons platforms and making our defence force an interoperable part of the US? "That's what you need nuclear submarines for, not to defend Australia." The question of Australia's capability to keep trade lanes open has become more urgent since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. After Iran's blockade, Indonesia's finance minister briefly floated the idea of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore collectively imposing a toll on the Malacca Strait, the key trade route connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans through which a quarter of the world's trade passes. While that idea was quickly shot down, it caused nervousness in Australia and abroad that the foundations of open trade, including free navigation of the seas, have become shakier. Scrutiny of AUKUS's delivery reveals two "optimal pathways" for Australia's submarines. Senator Shoebridge said Australia would not be capable of keeping trade lanes open and should instead focus on diplomacy. "We're not a global superpower, we're not here in order to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, to keep open the Strait of Malacca. It's thousands of kilometres from our shore and it's beyond our capacity militarily to do that," he said. "I see a role for us working with our neighbours to try and prevent global conflicts shutting down trade links in our regions." The senator also cast doubt on whether Australia would r

'Beyond our capacity' to defend sea trade lanes, Shoebridge says

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