By Steve Painter
The United States government expects to get the go-ahead soon to use Delamere bombing range in the Northern Territory. US military forces are searching for a new range following their forced abandonment of the giant Clark air base in the Philippines due to the eruption of Mt Pinatubo.
Visiting Australia in early May for celebrations of the World War II battle of the Coral Sea, US defence secretary Dick Cheney admitted discussing a bombing range with the Australian government. He said a decision would be announced in the "not too distant future". Prime Minister Keating indicated the government would approve the scheme.
Australian Democrat Senator Sid Spindler has called on the government to deny the US access to Delamere as part of a freeze on new proposals for military cooperation. He says the US-Australia relationship "is weighed down by the baggage of the Cold War, and has yet to enter the '90s", and it's time to negotiate a new relationship.
Spindler is also concerned about overseas media reports that the Australian government has offered use of RAAF facilities at Darwin to the Singapore air force.
The 2200 square km bombing range at Delamere cattle station, south of Katherine, is attached to the nearby Tindal RAAF base. During a May 4 press conference in Canberra, Cheney admitted it's a "possibility" that Delamere could replace Clark's Crow Valley range.
Crow Valley was the main US bombing range in the western Pacific for aerial combat training. It was used for bombing and strafing practice and featured an airfield and sophisticated electronic warfare installations, including advanced radar and anti-radar equipment and even a Russian surface-to-air missile installation. Farmers and tribal people living near the range are reported to have died in US training mishaps.
The eastern and southern parts of the buffer zone surrounding the Delamere range include still-used Aboriginal dreaming sites.
The Delamere range is already used by Australian forces despite a 1984 environmental impact statement warning of the danger of bushfires during the dry season. At the older Beecroft range at Jervis Bay, NSW, whole ecosystems have been destroyed by repeated burning caused by bombing practice.
The 1984 EIS was based on projected use of the range for about four months each year, but if US use is approved, overall usage could increase dramatically. Based on international experience, usage could be so intensive that waterways in the area could become a toxic son, eventually spreading poisonous run-off over a wide area. Some US weapons, such as anti-tank shells, include depleted uranium and other toxic substances. In the US itself, some of its weapons ranges are littered with unexploded bombs and other dangerous wastes.
As well, the potential for damage to human health and the local environment would increase dramatically with greater use of the range by supersonic aircraft such as the F-18 jet, which is capable of spreading a sonic boom over about 5000 square km in 10 minutes' flying.
At present, US military forces have access to about 30 bases in Australia. Some, such as the Pine Gap electronic spy base, are in reality under US control despite official denials that this is the case. Most of the cost of maintaining these bases is picked up by Australian taxpayers, to the tune of about $100 million annually.
During his visit, Cheney confirmed that the US bases in Australia had been used in the Gulf War. He said, "the joint defence facilities here ... played an invaluable role in detecting launches of Iraqi Scud missiles aimed at US forces in Saudi Arabia".
The Australian bases would also play a role in the Strategic Defence Initiative (Star Wars), with which the US is pressing ahead despite the end of the Cold War. Cheney justified this on the grounds that up to 20 states could have ballistic missiles in the near future. US military forces are not obliged to obtain Australian permission before involving Australian-based "joint facilities" in war situations.
Meanwhile, the Australian government's drive to double the country's arms trading capability is proceeding, with defence science and personnel minister Gordon Bilney scheduled to address an $1195-a-head business conference on the commercialisation of defence at the Sydney Sheraton Wentworth on June 29-30. Also addressing the conference will be senior Defence Department bureaucrats and top executives of companies including British Aerospace and Australian Defence Industries.
[The Anti-Bases Bulletin, newsletter of the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, is available from PO Box A899, Sydney South NSW 2000. Phone (02) 267 2772].