Australia to invest $8 billion in nuclear submarine shipyard

Australia said on Saturday it would spend A$12 billion ($8 billion) to establish defence facilities in Western Australia to help deliver submarines under the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. The AUKUS pact, agreed upon by Australia, Britain and the US in 2021, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. President Donald Trump's administration is undertaking a formal review of the pact. Defence Minister Richard Marles said the planned precinct was "critical to Australia’s shipbuilding and sustainment industry while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia and Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine pathway". The centre-left Labour government continues "to increase defence spending to record levels to deliver the capabilities Australia needs",...