FORMER prime minister Paul Keating's criticisms of AUKUS have focused attention on what its critics say is a tight binding of Australia to US foreign policy, especially with regards to China.
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Many on the left of politics, including peace campaigners and a number of unions, were already opposed to AUKUS before Mr Keating's address to the National Press Club garnered widespread attention.
City of Newcastle meeting last year reaffirmed the city's anti-nuclear stance, setting the scene for a political conflict between the Labor-led council and the Labor federal government, given Newcastle was one of three ports, along with Port Kembla and Brisbane, shortlisted by the former Morrison government for an east coast submarine base.
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Yesterday, Leigh Shears, head of the Hunter's peak union body Hunter Workers, reaffirmed his opposition to the idea of a Newcastle nuclear submarine base, saying the organisation would debate the situation at its next meeting in the first week of April.
"Hunter Workers, with the broader community, strongly opposes the concept of nuclear submarines in Newcastle harbour," Mr Shears said.
"We are a region committed to peace, with a fully fledged no nuclear zone, and you only have to listen to the calls for AUKUS to include nuclear power generation to know that a sealed nuclear reactor in a submarine is the thin edge of wedge.
"We are a region in the midst of an industrial transition that promises long-term stable employment in renewables and other industries, and we won't be distracted by AUKUS campaigners saying the subs are a promise of jobs.
"With a latest cost of $368 billion, the 20,000 jobs being talked works out at almost $20 million a job."
Four unions - the Australian Workers Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Electrical Trades Union and Professionals Australia - have formed a body known as the Australian Shipbuilding Federation of Unions, which has been arguing since the Morrison government dumped the French submarine design for the federal government to immediately start building six conventional subs.
The federation says building four to six conventional submarines in Adelaide and Fremantle would create more than 4000 jobs in South Australia and 2000 in Western Australia.
With Port Kembla reportedly the front-runner for the east coast base, the South Coast Labour Council has been vocal in its opposition to the idea.
The council's secretary Arthur Rorris said the people of Wollongong had lived with "every carcinogen known to man", and now were being "asked to put a nuclear target on our backs as well". A number of Illawarra business groups have also opposed AUKUS.
On Sunday, more than 500 people met at Marrickville Town Hall to hear speakers including Labor icon Bob Carr, retired US Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (formerly Colin Powell's chief of staff) and Greens Senator David Shoebridge criticise the AUKUS deal and US foreign policy toward China.
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Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
