I think Australia needs to look at its sovereignty and make some hard choices. But i'm not sure i'm with Michael Pascoe on labelling the submarines deal terrible.
Its a few months old, but Malcolm Turnbull hosted a talkfest on the issue at the start of the year with people with a lot more knowledge, the discussion was vigorous and mixed, its worth a listen,
Episode 1, Is Trump all Froth and no Bubble? - Defending Democracy
Before that i also listened to Decouple, a Canadian podcaster, Dr Chris Keefer, he had an interesting conversation on the subject with an Aidan Morrison, Director of Energy Research at Australia's Centre for Independent Studies. They also had an interesting perspective,
So i don't know if these submarines are a bad idea, and it seems pretty complex to work through.