diff --git a/build/container/Makefile b/build/container/Makefile
index 3f5ebd3c..64d99806 100644
--- a/build/container/Makefile
+++ b/build/container/Makefile
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 BUILD_MULTI_ARCH_IMAGES ?= false
 DOCKER ?= docker
+REGCTL ?= regctl
 
 BUILDX =
 ifeq ($(BUILD_MULTI_ARCH_IMAGES),true)
@@ -74,6 +75,14 @@ endif
 push-%: DIST = $(*)
 push-short: DIST = $(DEFAULT_PUSH_TARGET)
 
+# Define the push targets
+$(PUSH_TARGETS): push-%:
+	$(CURDIR)/scripts/publish-image.sh $(IMAGE) $(OUT_IMAGE)
+
+push-short:
+	$(CURDIR)/scripts/publish-image.sh $(IMAGE) $(OUT_IMAGE)
+
+
 build-%: DIST = $(*)
 build-%: DOCKERFILE = $(CURDIR)/build/container/Dockerfile.$(DOCKERFILE_SUFFIX)
 
diff --git a/build/container/multi-arch.mk b/build/container/multi-arch.mk
index 445ea0d0..8f6168e5 100644
--- a/build/container/multi-arch.mk
+++ b/build/container/multi-arch.mk
@@ -16,17 +16,6 @@ PUSH_ON_BUILD ?= false
 DOCKER_BUILD_OPTIONS = --output=type=image,push=$(PUSH_ON_BUILD)
 DOCKER_BUILD_PLATFORM_OPTIONS = --platform=linux/amd64,linux/arm64
 
-REGCTL ?= regctl
-$(PUSH_TARGETS): push-%:
-	$(REGCTL) \
-	        image copy \
-	        $(IMAGE) $(OUT_IMAGE)
-
-push-short:
-	$(REGCTL) \
-	        image copy \
-	        $(IMAGE) $(OUT_IMAGE_NAME):$(OUT_IMAGE_VERSION)
-
 # We only have x86_64 packages for centos7
 build-centos7: DOCKER_BUILD_PLATFORM_OPTIONS = --platform=linux/amd64
 
diff --git a/build/container/native-only.mk b/build/container/native-only.mk
index aacde563..d15b78a4 100644
--- a/build/container/native-only.mk
+++ b/build/container/native-only.mk
@@ -13,11 +13,3 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 DOCKER_BUILD_PLATFORM_OPTIONS = --platform=linux/amd64
-
-$(PUSH_TARGETS): push-%:
-	$(DOCKER) tag "$(IMAGE)" "$(OUT_IMAGE)"
-	$(DOCKER) push "$(OUT_IMAGE)"
-
-push-short:
-	$(DOCKER) tag "$(IMAGE_NAME):$(VERSION)-$(DEFAULT_PUSH_TARGET)" "$(OUT_IMAGE_NAME):$(OUT_IMAGE_VERSION)"
-	$(DOCKER) push "$(OUT_IMAGE_NAME):$(OUT_IMAGE_VERSION)"
diff --git a/scripts/publish-image.sh b/scripts/publish-image.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..9387ce76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/publish-image.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Copyright (c) NVIDIA CORPORATION.  All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This script is used to publish images to a registry. It checks whether the image
+# already exists in the registry and skips publishing if it does. This can be overridden
+# using the FORCE_PUBLISH_IMAGES environment variable.
+
+set -ex
+
+: ${DOCKER=docker}
+: ${REGCTL=regctl}
+
+INPUT_IMAGE=$1
+OUTPUT_IMAGE=$2
+
+function publish_docker() {
+    ${DOCKER} tag ${1} ${2}
+    ${DOCKER} push ${2}
+}
+
+function publish_regctl() {
+    ${REGCTL} image copy ${1} ${2}
+}
+
+function publish() {
+    if [[ x"${BUILD_MULTI_ARCH_IMAGES}" == x"true" || $(command -v ${REGCTL}) ]]; then
+        publish_regctl $@
+    else
+        publish_docker $@
+    fi
+}
+
+# image_exists returns 0 if the image exists in a registry and a non-zero return
+# code if this is not the case.
+function image_exists() {
+    local image=$1
+    ${DOCKER} manifest inspect ${image}
+}
+
+if [[ -z ${FORCE_PUBLISH_IMAGES} && $(image_exists ${OUTPUT_IMAGE}) ]]; then
+    echo "Skipping publishing of ${INPUT_IMAGE} as ${OUTPUT_IMAGE} already exists"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "Publishing ${INPUT_IMAGE} as ${OUTPUT_IMAGE}"
+publish ${INPUT_IMAGE} ${OUTPUT_IMAGE}