Labor warns the coalition's decision to obtain nuclear-powered submarine technology from the US and UK could put Australia's strategic independence at risk.
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Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong thinks the about-turn on a submarine deal with France raises valid questions about Australia's sovereign capability.
"How will we control the use of technology and capability that is not ours?" she said in a speech to the United States Studies Centre on Thursday.
"What implications are there for the design, assembly, operation and maintenance of nuclear-powered submarines?"
Australia is tearing up a $90 billion submarine contract to obtain conventional submarines from French company Naval Group in favour of the AUKUS arrangement involving the US and the UK.
Labor supports the move on the condition there is no domestic civil nuclear industry developed or nuclear weapons acquired and Australia abides by its non-proliferation obligations.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused the opposition of having a bet each way on the arrangement.
"Australians would be puzzled as to why there can be bipartisan support for this initiative in the United States and within days the Labor Party seems to be having an each way bet," he told reporters from Washington DC.
Senator Wong is concerned not enough work has been done to reassure the Indo-Pacific region ahead of time, of Australia's non-proliferation obligations.
"The anxiety expressed in some of the reactions to the AUKUS announcement suggests that more preparatory work could have been done to assure our partners of the practical implications of these announcements," she said.
"Quite rightly, the region doesn't want a nuclear arms race. Mr Morrison needs to demonstrate - in word and deed - that AUKUS is not a precursor to more nuclear weapons states in Asia."
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has labelled Australia's handling of the situation a foreign policy debacle in an opinion piece in French newspaper Le Monde.
Mr Rudd accused the coalition government of failing to adhere to basic diplomatic protocols for failing to inform French leaders and the contracted company Naval Group in advance.
"To do otherwise would be tantamount to deceptive and misleading conduct," he wrote, adding such a failure was "unacceptable between adversaries let alone between allies".
The former PM told ABC radio the US admission that things could have been handled better with the French left "our bloke (prime minister) Morrison out there like a shag on a rock".
Another former prime minister, Paul Keating, earlier lashed his party for being complicit in the government's foreign policy stance.
Mr Keating thought AUKUS and Australia were returning to a "jaded and faded Anglosphere" instead of furthering relations in Asia.
Australian Associated Press
