<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Former Prime Minister </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/malcolm-turnbull" rel="" target="_blank" title="Malcolm Turnbull"><span>Malcolm Turnbull</span></a><span> has described the AUKUS partnership as a "terrible deal" for Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The ex-Liberal PM ripped into the trilateral defence pact with the US to deliver nuclear submarines and warned Australia could end up empty-handed.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"AUKUS is a terrible deal. It is so unfair to Australia," Turnbull said during a doorstep interview in Canberra's Parliament House.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/north-macedonia-nightclub-fire-dozens-killed-in-massive-fire-in-kocani/f10d5a4a-0263-4861-92c0-e2e028045d77" target="_blank"><strong><span>'I don't need my life anymore': Nation rocked by worst tragedy in memory</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The most likely outcome of the AUKUS pillar one is that we will end up with no submarines of our own."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He added: "We will have lost both sovereignty and security, and a lot of money as well. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That's why I say it is a really bad deal."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/aukus-deal-malcolm-turnbull-slams-partnership-as-bad-deal-for-australia/f8a5f288-0848-46ba-b830-0ee31c548620" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When questioned over reports US President Donald Trump supports the AUKUS deal, Turnbull said "of course" he would like it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He said the Trump administration would be pleased with the $3 billion dollar deal and claimed there was "no guarantee" Australia would ever be handed the promised US nuclear-powered submarines.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/el-salvador-new-terrorist-prison-opens-human-rights-criticisms-first-prisoners-arrive/ff983c9c-1b3e-450e-b975-046838dc1c22" target="_blank"><strong><span>Inside the brutal foreign prison where Trump is sending 'criminals'</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Of course he'd like it, it's such a bad deal for us," Turnbull added of the security agreement with Australia, the United Kingdom and US for a free and open Indo-Pacific.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He will be thinking who are these dumb guys who agreed to this deal?"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Earlier today, Turnbull similarly savaged Australia's role in the AUKUS deal on ABC Radio Sydney and said it was a "fiasco".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The fundamental problem is that we are very, very likely, I would say, almost certain, never to get any Virginia class submarines,'' he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/us-defence-secretary-says-trumps-supportive-of-aukus-deal/2c0776e3-950a-4304-bef5-f4c8409f18b3" rel="" target="_blank" title='US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Trump was "supportive" of the deal'><span>US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Trump was "supportive" of the deal</span></a><span> in a meeting with Australia's Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles at the Pentagon in February.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Albanese government made a $US500 million ($798 million) payment to Washington as part of the AUKUS deal ahead of the meeting between Marles and Hegseth.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-crash-menai-father-flees/f6b0098e-ebab-4bc8-9dcc-4fc9e77a6be7" target="_blank"><strong><span>Search for dad who rolled his ute, extracted kids and fled</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The plan would provide Australia with three Virginia-class submarines from the US, which is supposed to boost America's lagging rate of submarine production.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The president is very aware, supportive of AUKUS and … the investment Australia is willing to make," Hegseth said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He also said the Trump Administration "sure hopes" to have them delivered on time, with the first one due by the early 2030s.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple App Store</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>.</span></em></strong></div></div>