Plan to build Aukus submarines in Adelaide is ‘a fairytale’ and ‘pork barrelling’, Alexander Downer says

Former foreign minister says building nuclear submarines at South Australian shipyard will ‘drain the national economy’

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The $368bn Aukus plan to build nuclear submarines in Adelaide has been labelled “a fairytale” and “pork barrelling” by Alexander Downer, Australia’s longest serving foreign minister.

Downer said on Monday that the central plank of Aukus would “drain the national economy”, joining a number of elder statespersons with concerns about the feasibility or desirability of building nuclear submarines.

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