Australian Senator Raff Ciccone Defends AUKUS Submarine Deal

Senator Raff Ciccone, chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, used a Senate speech to rebuke critics of the AUKUS submarine programme. He described the opposition, including a crowd‑funded inquiry led by former Labor figures, as “animated by nostalgia” and urged that Australia act on today’s strategic reality rather than past concerns. Ciccone defended the plan to acquire three second‑hand US Virginia‑class nuclear‑powered submarines, saying each will have more than 20 years of operational life, and dismissed calls for further review as unconstructive.

He also singled out the Greens, accusing them of “ideological hostility toward the United States,” and criticized the previous Morrison government’s handling of earlier submarine projects. While former ministers such as Gareth Evans and Paul Keating have labelled the pact a “cash cow” for the United States, Ciccone argued the time for debate has passed and that concrete action is needed.