It is looking increasingly likely that we'll be seeing US and UK nuclear-powered (possibly nuclear-armed) submarines in our port in the near future and, in the more distant future, Australian-owned versions of the same. Our port - our preciously civilian port - is an essential component in the region's future as a renewable energy hub. What impact would this militarising/nuclearising of our port have on this future? Increased vulnerability to attack in time of conflict is just one concern that might be giving renewable energy enterprises and investors cold feet. Distrust in Defence's capacity to be transparent and accountable in what it does might be another.
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Julie Marlow, Berkeley
So much for sovereignty
The word "sovereignty" is being bandied about a lot these days. It broadly implies having a degree of control over a piece of land. It is generally thought to be desirable. I have long argued that Australia's sovereignty would have been better served had we established a less aligned foreign policy. Our unswerving support for the USA and our continual political and military involvement in its never-ending interference in the affairs of other countries, has not served us well.
Our participation in Scott Morrison's brainchild AUKUS, now sadly supported by the Labor government, is another step in the wrong direction. It has distanced Australia even further from its major trading partner China and has led us into the nuclear submarine debacle, an increase in the number of American military bases and joint military exercises on our soil and is generally leading us into an even more invidious position than we were previously by integrating Australia firmly into the American military machine. We talk a lot about sovereignty. Why don't our politicians attach some importance to preserving it?
John Martin, Woonona
United Nations a failure
We had a war to end all wars, we sent Australia's finest. Yet now, instead of being able to win our homeless, unemployment, ageing, and poverty wars, we place top priority on having to defend all the things that make this the greatest country in the world.
The shit we all stand in today is not of our making, in truth, we did everything we could to do our best to live in a secure Australia. Where we went wrong was to put our faith in an organisation now firmly controlled by the very people who do their damnedest to rob us of everything we hold dearest to our country.
The United Nations will go down in history as the greatest failure of all time. We no longer need the United Nations because it has stopped needing us. Let the peace loving nations of the world join together to secure their own future; if it takes a fleet of modern submarines then so be it. All else has failed.
Dave Cox, Corrimal
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