Strong backing remains within the Labor movement for AUKUS, the defence industry minister says, as grassroots supporters call on the party to reconsider the nuclear-powered submarine deal.
Dissent on the deal is unlikely to surface during Labor's national conference in Adelaide later in July, despite disagreements on the policy at its 2023 summit.
Labor branches across the nation have called on the Albanese government to outright dump the $368 billion plan to acquire the boats.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Pat Conroy defended AUKUS as being about sovereign manufacturing.
"There is very strong support for AUKUS within the Australian Labor Party," the defence industry minister said on Thursday.
"At the national conference it got well over an 80 per cent vote.
"For any contentious issue that's an overwhelming majority ... it's in our national interests. I'll keep making that case."
Labor backbencher Ed Husic previously called for a new vote on AUKUS, and the government is staring down an independent inquiry into the pact led by former Labor cabinet minister Peter Garrett.
A number of senior Labor figures including Paul Keating and Bob Carr are opposed to the $368 billion deal.
As Pauline Hanson's One Nation continues to poll highly alongside Labor, Mr Conroy argued progressive patriotism was the "bedrock for why we do what we do" in defence of democracy and multiculturalism.
"Draping yourself in a flag doesn't make you a patriot," the minister said.
"Delivering real change and improving this country and being proud of this country is a patriot."
Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge described the security pact as a "strategic surrender" to the US.
"AUKUS is led by, controlled by, and run by the United States," he said.
"The Australian public can see that AUKUS is about as patriotic as Pine Gap, and no matter what Minister Conroy might want to say, that's the fundamental truth."
Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson has previously called for Labor ministers to pull supporters "into line", saying it wasn't in the national interest for the pact to be undermined further.
As the defence department undergoes its biggest overhaul in five decades, the government on Wednesday revealed a dozen projects had cost the taxpayer $29 billion in cost blowouts.
Part of the reform includes a new Defence Delivery Agency that will become operational from July 2027, and will be tasked with ensuring projects remain on time and budget.
The massive changes come as Labor commits to pour tens of billions of dollars into Defence over the next decade.
