ANUSA Opposes Prospect of ANU-AUKUS Collaboration in Nation-wide Protest

By Xanthe Murrell

Photography by Patrick Guthridge

On Thursday 13 April, staff and students, alongside anti-war organisations, protested university involvement with Australia’s military alliance AUKUS (and its associated nuclear development program). Coordinated speak-outs took place at ANU, the University of Sydney, and the University of Melbourne. At ANU, speakers discussed major concerns regarding the increasingly aggressive tone of Australian defence policy and the enthusiasm of university executives to become a part of an American “war machine.”

Protest held to oppose the AUKUS deal. ANU Campus, Thursday 13 April 2023. Photographed by Patrick Guthridge.

The security pact, announced in September 2021, involves a large-scale industrial project in which the US and UK will help “deliver Australia a world-class capability” and become “one of 7 countries to operate nuclear-powered submarines.”

ANUSA has repeatedly expressed opposition to “all AUKUS related activities on campus”, as well as involvement from any universities represented by Universities Australia. Universities Australia is a representative body that advocates for all 39 of its member institutions, at a national and international level. President Ben Yates claims the project will “drag Australia into imperial conflicts”, a sentiment echoed by Education Officer Beatrice Tucker.

“[AUKUS] is set to spur on an arms race with China,” Tucker stated in a media release on Thursday. “Furthering the drive to war is not the role of public higher education institutions and is a threat to ordinary people”.

Frustration has been growing within the ANUSA representative council since Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt’s comments last year at the Submarine Institute of Australia Conference. Schmidt proposed a three-step plan, through which ANU could build a partnership with the Australian government. This partnership would aim to fill the expertise-gap currently challenging the Australian side of the submarine initiative.

Schmidt proposed that, with government cooperation and funding, ANU could “play a central role in building the skills and knowledge base” needed to assemble a “sovereign, nuclear-literate workforce”.

These most recent speak-outs were organised following reports that Universities Australia Chief Catriona Jackson is currently meeting with US national security personnel in Washington D.C. Jackson and US officials are meeting to discuss how Australian universities can support t​​he delivery of nuclear submarines to  Australia.

At ANU, representatives from ANUSA, the NTEU ACT Division, Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN), the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW), and Solidarity spoke to a crowd of approximately 20 people.

The five speeches covered a range of themes, the strongest being a condemnation of Australian militarism.

David Perkins, from IPAN, argued that AUKUS demonstrates a “worrying trend toward militarisation” being led by “the political class”. He argued that instead of buying “apex predator submarines”, Australia needs to pursue “mutual demilitarisation, the abolishment of nuclear weapons and the reformation of international institutions.”

 “[Australia] is following American leadership meekly into grievous peril”, Perkins said.

Both Perkins and Solidarity member Elise Chua argued that “China is not our enemy”. Rather than militarise beside the US, Chua argued that Australians “must reach out in solidarity with Chinese workers” in their “struggle against authoritarianism”.

A theme of fiscal responsibility was also raised by multiple speakers. In the context of the current cost of living and climate crises, it was argued that money should not be spent on “fuelling an arms race.” Rather, funds should be allocated to the provision of essential services, environmental issues, wages and university courses.

For Australian students, Chua argued that Universities Australia’s commitment to the submarine program is “condemning the next generation of students to building for, fighting and dying in a war against the interests of ordinary people”. 

Tucker categorised Australian universities as grasping for “a slice of the AUKUS pie”. 

Sue Wareham (MAPW), expressing her opposition for Universities Australia’s support of AUKUS, asked: “what have we come to as a nation, when our universities are so desperate for funds that they are embracing the war machine as the best way to get funding?” 

When Observer asked the University for comment regarding their support for the weapons program, an ANU spokesperson stated that “AUKUS is a high-level security pact between the United States, United Kingdom and Australian governments. ANU has no formal relationship or involvement with AUKUS.”

Ultimately, Education Officer Beatrice Tucker ended the protest by questioning the timing of Jackson’s visit to Washington. The trip falls during the mid-semester holidays of many Australian universities, a fact that Tucker labelled as “suspicious”.

Education Officer Beatrice Tucker speaking at Thursday’s protest. Photographed by Patrick Guthridge.

Earlier this year, ANUSA “call[ed] on the University to end its existing participation in the Nuclear Science Academic Program” to prevent any potential participation in “future defence and weapons development programs.”

ANU currently offers a Masters of Science in Nuclear Science, which ranks as the first in Australia for physics and astronomy. Since 2021, ANU also participates in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship scheme funded by the Department of Defence. The scholarship provides successful applicants with $20,000 a year and a fellowship at Defence.

When asked about ANU’s current nuclear science program, an ANU spokesperson gave the following statement:

“ANU teaches and researches nuclear science with applications across a wide range of areas, including the environment, health and medicine, astrophysics and quantum technologies. The University is also home to Australia’s most comprehensive and renowned experimental nuclear science research programs.”

Graphics by Will Novak

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