Malcolm Turnbull, who was behind the French submarine contract that Morrison dramatically tore up in favour of Aukus, said Australia needs to "wake up", realise it's a "bad deal" which the US could renege on at any point, and make other plans before it is too late.

Congressional Democrats condemned the review as casting doubt over the strength of America's alliances with Britain and Australia.

Under AUKUS, Australia was scheduled to make a $2 billion payment in 2025 to the U.S. to help boost its submarine shipyards and speed up lagging production rates of Virginia class submarines to allow the sale of up to three U.S. submarines to Australia from 2032.