{"id":296792,"date":"2025-10-06T09:56:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T23:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=296792"},"modified":"2025-10-06T09:56:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T23:56:31","slug":"a-crack-in-the-aukus-public-relations-pressure-hull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=296792","title":{"rendered":"A crack in the AUKUS public relations pressure hull!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AUKUS is a hugely expensive Defence project facing considerable and, many argue unsurmountable, hurdles. But does Defence have a Plan B?\u00a0Rex Patrick<\/strong>\u00a0reveals a crack in Defence PR\u2019s high tensile pressure hull steel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has to be an AUKUS Plan B, surely. So MWM FOI\u2019ed the Australian Submarine Agency (ASA) to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
FOI Asking about a Plan B<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hit \u2018em with your Talking Points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the ASA partially released one document showing \u2018talking points\u2019 that had been given to the Project lead, Vice Admiral Jonathon Mead, in case he was asked about the US\u2019s AUKUS review.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
US AUKUS Review talking Points (Source: Defence)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first glance MWM thought that the ASA\u2019s back-up plan to defend the Nation was to <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

roll out some talking points to fire at an approaching enemy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But a closer look revealed more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Crack in the Submarine Pressure Hull<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The talking points weren\u2019t the only documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the public bravado, the FOI decision shows that there is some discussion going on behind the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
More Documents about Plan B (Source: Defence)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were three more documents that met the terms of MWM\u2019s request. The decision letter reveals that the Government has been discussing with our AUKUS partners, and internally, on what to do if it all goes to hell in a nuclear hand basket.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Plan B Talk Going On (Source: Defence)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-confidence Bluster Exposed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ASA has claimed the documents are sensitive (something we\u2019ll push back on with an appeal) and so we can\u2019t see the exact details of what\u2019s being said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we know there are conversations taking place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

That\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Greens Senator David Shoebridge, commenting on the FOI decision said, \u201cLabor has managed to combine two of their worst behaviours in one go here, using exemptions in FOI to refuse to release documents while secretly doubling down on a plan B for AUKUS. I don\u2019t think treating the Australian public like mushrooms is a viable long term political strategy for Albanese\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Senate Estimates this coming week. The Coalition is a unity cheer squad with Labor when it comes to AUKUS, so we won\u2019t see them probing hard on a Plan B. Hopefully Shoebridge will squeeze some more out of Defence, at least until MWM\u2019s FOI appeal is finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, at least, we now know the ASA\u2019s public AUKUS bluster is a deception. They\u2019re not so confident after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–Rex Patrick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For now, at least, we now know the ASA\u2019s public AUKUS bluster is a deception. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":188469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,999,35,470],"tags":[12530,5982,13893],"class_list":["post-296792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-australia-politics","category-breaking-news","category-defence","tag-aukus","tag-canberra","tag-rex-patrick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296798,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296792\/revisions\/296798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/188469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=296792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=296792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}