Kathy Newnam
Agreements signed by defence minister Robert Hill at the annual Australia-US ministerial consultations in Washington on July 7 greatly strengthened Australian government support for the US war machine.
The agreements include plans to expand three existing military bases to enable joint training between Australian and US troops. These are located at Shoalwater Bay — north of Rockhampton, Queensland; Delamere — about 130 kilometres south-west of Katherine, Northern Territory and Bradshaw — near Timber Creek, NT.
These existing facilities will be upgraded to enable simultaneous military training exercises across the three bases. The government intends to complete the upgrades before the planned "Talisman Sabre" US-Australia joint exercise in 2007. According to a July 8 press release from Hill's office, this exercise will include tens of thousands of troops.
The government has been at pains to emphasise that the agreement is for "joint combined training centres" — not US bases. In an ABC Radio interview on July 8, Hill stated that the government is "not expecting" US troops to be based in Australia, but indicated that military equipment would be permanently based. When asked at a July 6 press conference about the pre-positioning of US troops in Australia, Hill stated that "there's been no suggestion of it. They haven't asked us, we haven't considered it", claiming that the question was "hypothetical".
However, this may not be so "hypothetical" given that the strategic aims of the warmongers in the US administration include a greater permanent US troop presence in the Asia-Pacific region. A September 2000 report titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses", released by the Project for a New American Century (a right-wing think tank closely linked with US vice-president Dick Cheney and US war secretary Donald Rumsfeld), proposed that US forces be permanently "repositioned" to Australia.
As its bases in other countries become increasingly unpopular, the US war machine is looking to Australia to increase its military foothold in the region.
The planned joint facilities will offer opportunities to further develop the "interoperability" of the US and Australian armed forces. Hill stated in a July 8 press release that this is vital "given the increasing need for our military to work together in coalitions".
According to Darwin anti-war activist Ray Hayes, "the Coalition government is bending over backward to accommodate and support the warmongers in Washington — as if the illegal wars on Afghanistan and Iraq weren't enough".
Hayes stated that "these 'training facilities' will have a devastating impact on the local environment". He pointed to the damage done to the sensitive ecosystems in Shoalwater Bay by the US-Australia military training exercises that have taken place there since 1992.
Hayes, who is the lead Senate candidate for the Socialist Alliance in the NT, believes that "the presence of a large number of US troops will likely lead to an increase in the incidence of sexual assault and rape. Just look at what happens when US military ships dock in Darwin."
Hayes is damning of the Labor Party's support for the joint facilities. In a media statement on July 8, Labor's defence spokesperson Chris Evans echoed the government's argument, stating that "it is an important way for our troops to acquire new skills and gain experience". Evans claimed that "there is a clear difference between permanently basing foreign troops in Australia, which Labor opposes, and joint training, which Labor supports".
Hayes disagrees. "A US base by any other name is still as dangerous", he declared. Hayes believes that Labor's support for this agreement is indicative of its fundamental agreement with the Coalition in supporting the US war machine. "Take its support for the continued existence of the US spy base outside Alice Springs", he stated, pointing out that this base played a vital role in the US-led wars on Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Queensland and NT Labor governments also support the joint facilities. NT defence support minister Paul Henderson told the July 9 NT News, "it is about economic growth, it is about jobs for the Territory — that is why we are delighted by this outcome".
Hayes asked in response: "What price do they put on the lives of the victims of the US war machine? What price on the local environment? What price on our civil liberties, which will be threatened by an increased US military presence?"
The July 7 consultations also included the signing of a 25-year agreement locking Australia into the US missile defence program, which has already included missile testing in Australia. Hill claims that the agreement was signed "to address not only the threats of today, but the threats we might face in the future". According to Hayes, this is "yet another instance of their appeal to the 'fear factor' to justify their warmongering".
The Australian government also signed a deal to purchase $530 million worth of US military equipment — primarily a fleet of 59 Abrams tanks.
"This is an absolute disgrace and a total waste of taxpayers money", declared Hayes. "While the government continues to demolish funding to health and education and fails to address the serious inequalities faced by Aboriginal communities, it dares to spend our money on buying killing machines from war criminals."
From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004.
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