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Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, backed the new deal and said his initial response was "surprise".

"This is something that has been negotiated very quickly and has obviously been kept quiet in Canberra," he told ABC News.

"The irony is that when we chose the French-designed submarine a few years ago we actually took a nuclear-powered submarine and have been spending millions of dollars turning it into a diesel submarine.

"I would say in past years the US would never have opened the doors to their nuclear technology to a country like Australia, so this reflects a big change. And as Joe Biden said, frankly, it's all about China. So, America's first expectation of Australia is that we will do more heavy lifting of our own."

Mr Jennings during an address on submarines at the National Press Club last March.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Jennings predicted this will see our defence budget grow significantly beyond current levels of about 2 per cent of gross domestic product.

"America is going to be looking to Australia to play a leading role in this part of the world, stabilising the Pacific Islands region, South-East Asia. In other words, the price for a closer American relationship is that we are going to have to do much more for our own interests in terms of defence, not just ride off America's coat tails and save the money. I think that message has been very clear from Joe Biden this morning," he said.

As far as this provoking a response from China, Mr Jennings said China's actions are the reason for this deal.

"We should call the first submarine in this new category the 'Xi Jinping' because no person is more responsible for Australia going down this track that be the current leader of the Chinese Communist Party," he said.

"The provocation is all from China ... It's not surprising that the countries of the Indo-Pacific - including the United States - now feel that there has to be some response."

Today's announcement is starting to make waves in the US after the joint press conference. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the submarines deal was a "bold step" for Australia given the country's economic dependence on China.

"The Chinese will view this as provocative, and they should," Mr Clapper said on CNN.

One remarkable aspect of today's announcement is how tightly guarded and leak-free it has been for such a significant development.

Teams of political and military policy-makers across three continents have been working on the deal for several months but no one on the outside knew anything about it.

The first sign that something big was afoot was when the Herald and The Age's Anthony Galloway and Rob Harris broke the news late last night federal cabinet ministers had been called to a top-secret meeting in Canberra ahead of a mysterious major national security announcement.

US President Joe Biden was the final leader to speak. He said the new AUKUS acronym “sounds strange” but that it’s “a good one.”

“This is about investing in our greatest source of strength â€" our alliances,” Mr Biden said.

US President Joe Biden virtually alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the East Room of the White House.Credit:AP

He said the new partnership was about updating those alliances to better meet the threats of today.

He has singled out France as a key ally with a presence in the Indo-Pacific. This is significant as Australia’s acquisition of nuclear submarines is expected to see the cancellation of Australia’s deal with France’s Naval Group to build 12 diesel-electric submarines.

Mr Biden referred to Mr Morrison as the “that fella down under”.Credit:AP

Mr Biden finished by thanking prime ministers Morrison and Johnson “for their friendship” but also their leadership.

He named both men after initially referring to Scott Morrison as “the fella down under”, prompting some speculation that he had forgotten the Australian leader’s name.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says it’s important to emphasise that the submarines will be powered by nuclear technology and not armed with nuclear weapons.

Mr Johnson says the creation of Australia’s new nuclear submarine fleet will create highly skilled jobs in Britain.

“The UK, Australia and the US will be joined even more closely together, reflecting the measure of trust between us,” Johnson said.

He said it was a “momentous decision” for any nation to acquire this “formidable capability.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this new deal would involve an “intense examination of what we need to do to exercise our nuclear stewardship responsibilities here in Australia”.

“We intend to build these submarines in Adelaide, Australia, in close cooperation with the United Kingdom and the United States,” Mr Morrison said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden at their joint press conference.Credit:Nine

“But let me be clear: Australia is not seeking to establish nuclear weapons or establish a civil nuclear capability. And we will continue to meet all of our nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

“Australia has a long history of defence cooperation with the United States and the United Kingdom. For more than a century, we have stood together for the course of freedom.”

The deal means Australia's troubled $90 billion deal with France will be dumped.

The Prime Minister has announced the creation of the new trilateral defence agreement called AUKUS.

“The first major initiative of AUKUS will be to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia,” Scott Morrison said.

But he says this does not mean Australia is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Mr Morrison is beginning the leaders' news conference from Canberra which is being held virtually and being streamed by the White House and Downing Street social media channels.

Australia will acquire its first fleet of highly prized nuclear-powered submarines as part of a historic new defence pact proposed by Mr Morrison to Joe Biden and Boris Johnson to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The ambitious AUKUS alliance is being hailed as Australia’s most significant strategic move in decades.

Read more here.

Australia, the US and UK will unveil a historic new security pact at 7am (AEST) that will include plans to help Australia develop a nuclear submarine capability.

Watch Prime Minister Scott Morrison's press conference below.

Senator Rex Patrick, a former navy submariner, has called for a senate inquiry before Australia moves to a nuclear fleet of submarines.

His comments come as Australia, the US and Britain prepare to unveil a landmark new security pact which may include sharing nuclear submarine technology.

Senator Rex Patrick is calling for an inquiry before Australia switches to a nuclear sub fleet.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Senator Patrick said it could be difficult to support nuclear-powered submarines in a country like Australia that does not have an established nuclear industry.

“But there's no question that before this decision can be taken we need to have a Senate inquiry, there's so many sort of complex issues,” he said on ABC Radio.

“If it's a US submarine, they have highly enriched uranium in their reactors and that creates a proliferation issue in terms of Australia standing up saying, no one should have this sort of fuel available to them.

“Yet we might end up having to have that on our submarines.”

Senator Patrick said Australia would save far more money by walking away from its troubled $90 billion deal with France to build submarines, than if it proceeded with it.

“It's almost unbelievably costly in the context of what other countries pay for submarines,” he said.

Australia, the US and UK will all stress that today's major announcement is not aimed at any one particular country.

But no one has any doubt what is driving this move.

As Eric Sayers, an expert in Asia-Pacific security policy at the American Enterprise Institute, told me today: “This is solely and 100 per cent about China and we should stop pretending it is anything else. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

Sayers said the US and UK were inviting Australia into an exclusive club by agreeing to share such a “highly sensitive technology” as nuclear-powered submarines.

“This is a significant step by the US and UK to empower one of our closest allies in Asia with an advanced capability that doesn’t just get offered to anyone,” he said. “This is one of the most special and unique ways that countries can co-operate.”

Thousands of unvaccinated NSW Health workers face being stood down or redeployed unless they get a jab by the end of the month, with one-in-six yet to receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Health’s 140,000-strong workforce has been given the deadline to receive at least one jab, despite being able to access a vaccine since February when the first phases of the federal rollout began.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Wednesday’s COVID-19 press conference, her second appearance this week, even though she had indicated they would stop as of last Friday.Credit:Janie Barrett

An email sent on Tuesday to Western Sydney Local Health District staff, covering hotspot hospitals such as Westmead and Blacktown, said almost 2000 district staff members had not received a single inoculation.

Eighty-eight per cent of all clinical staff in the state’s public health system has received the first dose and 81 per cent are fully vaccinated, as the September 30 deadline for health workers looms and the workforce faces its most difficult period in the pandemic.

Read more here.

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