SYDNEY (AFP) — Both left-leaning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his conservative challenger Peter Dutton are adamant that — whoever wins the 3 May poll — the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) defense deal signed by the three nations in 2021 is here to stay.

It is almost the sole area of agreement between the two leaders with wildly different views on everything from climate change to immigration.

“What we need is certainty, what we need is bipartisanship on issues of defense policy,” Albanese said on the campaign trail this month.

The landmark security pact to overhaul Australia’s navy with American muscle faces growing skepticism, stoked by its eyewatering cost and growing distrust of US President Donald Trump.

AUKUS commits Washington, London and Canberra to the joint development of cyber warfare tools, artificial intelligence and hypersonic missiles.

A key feature is for Australia to acquire a fleet of cutting-edge nuclear-powered submarines from the US.

Government forecasts estimate the submarine program alone could cost Australia up to US$235 billion over the next 30 years — one of its biggest-ever defense investments.

The price, as well as Trump’s return as commander-in-chief and his “America-first” foreign policy, has critics questioning the agreement.

“AUKUS is a terrible deal. It is so unfair to Australia,” former conservative prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said earlier this year.

“(Trump) will be thinking: who are these dumb guys who agreed to this?”

Australia plans to acquire at least three Virginia Class submarines from the United States within the next 10 to 15 years.

Eventually, and with American help, Australia aims to manufacture nuclear-powered submarines itself.

But there is fear of a scenario in which Australia forks out hundreds of millions in deposits and down payments, only for a mercurial Trump to tear up the deal on a whim.