Anthony Albanese is unlikely to rethink the “indefensibly high” price of the Aukus security pact on Australia’s sovereignty because the prime minister is “preoccupied” with avoiding being labelled as weak, according to Labor’s longest serving foreign affairs minister.
Gareth Evans, who held the portfolio from 1988 to 1996, stepped up his criticisms of the Aukus deal with the US and the UK, dismissing the Australian government’s argument that it will have full sovereign control of the nuclear-powered submarines as “frankly a joke in bad taste”.
