Peter Garrett to head independent inquiry into the Aukus submarine pact

Former environment minister Peter Garrett will lead an independent inquiry into the Aukus defence pact, launched by a group of Labor veterans and public figures concerned proper scrutiny has never been applied to the $368bn defence plan. He will be the lead commissioner on the five-month community-based investigation, being launched on Tuesday.

Labor agreed to support the deal for Australia to acquire nuclear submarines in collaboration with the United States and the United Kingdom, negotiated under the former Morrison government and announced in 2021. As part of the agreement, Australia is funding upgrades to the US defence industrial base and will start receiving secondhand nuclear submarines in 2032.

The UK parliament held a year-long review into the trilateral partnership and, after an inquiry by the Pentagon in 2025, US President Donald Trump agreed to support it. But some within Labor, including former prime minister Paul Keating, as well as civil society groups believe Aukus is not in Australia’s best interest.

Garrett said the new inquiry – supported by trade unions and non-profit organisations – will consider if the subs can be delivered on time and on budget, how nuclear waste will be managed and if Australia’s defence and strategic interests are well served by the deal. He has previously lashed Aukus, saying the plan “stinks” and represents “the most costly and risky action ever taken by any Australian government”. “This inquiry is doing the job that a proper parliamentary inquiry should be doing,” Garrett told Guardian Australia.