Australia: Thousands demonstrate against a base for nuclear submarines

From the editorial board

Foreign Pages, 6 May 2023 – Thousands of people mobilized today against the construction of a nuclear powered submarine base at Port Kembla, eastern Australia, planned as part of the AUKUS military deal Canberra signed with the United States and Brittany United. .

For the construction of a new base for nuclear-powered submarines on the east coast of the country, the Ministry of Defense has chosen the second largest coal export port in the state of New South Wales.

Carrying banners and flags of unions and pacifist, environmental and left-wing political groups, demonstrators marched to express their opposition to the construction of a military base in the town, 102km south of Sydney.

“I understand that the renewable energy that is in this community is still showing up in the streets,” Green Senator David Shoebridge, a leading critic of the Greens, told the crowd. Aucus.

Australian Defense Minister last month Richard Marlis He said no decision had been made on a location for a new submarine base on the east coast.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended the submarine base project after two former leaders criticized the deal for its huge cost (about US$244 billion), complexity and potential problems for the country’s sovereignty.

The deal, unveiled in March, would see Australia buy Virginia-class submarines United State He accepted the joint British and Australian production of a new class of submarine warfare to be built in Oceania by the early 1940s. Foreign pages