The first announcement under AUKUS was Australia’s plan to acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines for operation by the Royal Australian Navy. Seven in ten Australians (70%) are strongly or somewhat in favour of this decision, while 28% say they are against the acquisition. This comes at a time when the number of Australians who want defence spending to be increased has jumped 20 points since 2019 to 51%.

The AUKUS initiative was announced by the former Coalition government. The acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines receives strong support from Australians who lean towards the Liberal and National parties (87%), while 65% of Australians who lean towards the Labor Party are in favour of the decision. Only 42% of Australians who lean towards the Greens are in favour of the acquisition.

In 2022, 36% of Australians are strongly or somewhat in favour of ‘Australia acquiring nuclear weapons in the future’, while 63% are either somewhat or strongly against the acquisition of nuclear weapons. In the 2010 Lowy Institute Poll, responding to a different question, only 16% of Australians said they would support acquiring nuclear weapons ‘if some of Australia’s near neighbours were to begin to develop nuclear weapons’.

Acquiring nuclear weapons