We the undersigned are strongly opposed to the AUKUS agreement and in particular the purchase of eight nuclear powered submarines. We ask that you please abandon this agreement forthwith. 

The total cost of the submarines is reported to be $368 billion. That is an outrageous amount of money for a relatively small country like Australia (population wise) to be spending on military hardware that we don’t need - and that many don’t want. 

Broken down this figure is the equivalent of $32 million per day for 31 years. It’s also worth roughly half the value of the 8133 tons of gold that make up the entire United States gold reserves (valued at around A$726 billion).

Another thing worth noting is this - about half of all government and private sector projects run over budget. So this project could easily blow out to $500 billion - or more.

Australia currently has a national debt of $900 billion. Here in Victoria it’s $115 billion. This is a staggering amount of debt. While we’re burdened with this massive debt we consider it extremely unwise to add to the debt a figure approaching half that amount again. All this at a time when Australians are struggling with higher costs of living, rising interest rates resulting in increased mortgage repayments, over 3 million Australians living below the poverty line, etc, etc.

Australia already has a fleet of submarines. We don’t need anymore. We already have an effective and well equipped army, navy and air force. 

Australia doesn’t need nuclear submarines. We don’t need nuclear anything on Australian soil - or in Australian waters. And we definitely don’t need to be throwing away $32 million a day for the next 31 years. That massive sum of money can be put to much better use elsewhere.

Again we beseech you to withdraw from this crippling financial agreement.