Prime Minister Albanese's meeting with US President Donald Trump masks the hard truth of Australia's defence and trade surrender to Trump.
President Trump has publicly backed AUKUS because it has Australian taxpayers building the US a $8 billion nuclear submarine base of Perth while pumping billions more directly into the US nuclear submarine industry.
Today's meeting was sweetened by Australia offering Trump reduced environmental protections for critical minerals extraction and a potential US veto on who Australia sells to, and invests with, in this essential industry.
While Trump talked up the US industrial capacity to build nuclear submarines for Australia under AUKUS, his rhetoric is in stark contrast to reality. Whatever Trump says, the US is not producing any spare nuclear submarines for Australia and, as Trump clearly knows, AUKUS doesn't even require them to deliver any.
At a time Australia should be looking to the region to find ways to promote peace and independence, Albanese has aligned Australia closer and closer to Trump with all the instability and divisive hard right politics that he brings.
Senator David Shoebridge, Greens Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence, said: "Trump made no secret of the reason he liked Albanese, he is building Trump a $8 billion nuclear submarine base off Perth and has committed hundreds of billions more for US weapons.
"Trump's statement that there are plenty of submarines is what the Prime Minister wants to hear, but like a lot of what Trump says, it has no connection to reality.
"The US is building barely one Virginia nuclear submarine a year and they need to more than double that rate to make AUKUS work. Whatever Trump may say, there remains no credible plan to do this.
"For the US, keeping AUKUS on life support means the US gets new and expanded US bases across Australia, billions of dollars for US industry and US weapons and control over Australia's critical minerals.
"This is all upside for Trump because he knows that, even after all this, AUKUS doesn't require him to hand over a single submarine. It's no wonder Trump was smiling.
"Critical minerals are key to a green future, but Albanese has put Australia in lockstep with an administration that thinks climate change is a hoax.
"The Albanese Government seems to routinely engage in these rituals to appease Trump, praising him and showering him with gifts and all to bind us to an increasingly erratic US administration."
As stated by Resources Spokesperson Senator Steph Hodgins-May: "This deal doesn't back in Australia's renewables transition - it shackles it. We're signing up to fuel America's military - one of the world's largest polluters - for the sake of submarines and a photo-op.
"Australia should be fueling global green technologies with strong environmental protections and community benefits, not more handouts to mining corporations and Labor's billionaire donors whilst being locked to the US's climate-denialist agenda.
"If we're serious about the energy transition, we need strong ambition that ensures a just and fair transition for critical minerals doesn't come at the cost of our ecosystems and First Nations heritage."
