# AUKUS: The $368 billion submarine mirage Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-politics-australian-politics-news-analysis-commentary-711789/aukus-the-368-billion-submarine-mirage Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-politics-australian-politics-news-analysis-commentary-711789/aukus-the-368-billion-submarine-mirage.md Podcast: [New Politics: Australian Politics, News, Analysis & Commentary](https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-politics-australian-politics-news-analysis-commentary-711789) Published: 2026-06-04T21:00:02+00:00 Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/aukus-the-368-billion-submarine-mirage--72341528 Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72341528/np260605_mixdown.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-politics-australian-politics-news-analysis-commentary-711789/episodes/aukus-the-368-billion-submarine-mirage Duration seconds: 1559 ## Resource AUKUS was sold as a transformational defence agreement that would deliver a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and strengthen Australia's security for decades to come. Nearly five years later, the promised new submarines have become second-hand Virginia-class vessels from the United States, raising fresh questions about a program expected to cost up to $368 billion. As former Labor minister Peter Garrett launches an independent review of AUKUS, we examine the escalating costs, shifting promises, lack of parliamentary scrutiny, growing dependence on the United States and Britain, and whether Australia is sacrificing sovereignty and assuming enormous financial risk for a defence strategy that remains increasingly uncertain. #AUKUS #Auspol #DefencePolicy #NuclearSubmarines #NationalSecurity #NewPoliticsPodcast Subscribe to New Politics for weekly briefings and full analysis: www.newpolitics.com.au Support New Politics: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com Song listing: ‘La Femme d’Argent’, AIR. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-politics-australian-politics-news-analysis-commentary-711789/episodes/aukus-the-368-billion-submarine-mirage/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-politics-australian-politics-news-analysis-commentary-711789/aukus-the-368-billion-submarine-mirage.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.