According to the British newspaper The Guardian, data compiled by the Nautilus Institute revealed that the US military controls 17 facilities on the Australian mainland, 75 military facilities operated by Australia and American defense companies have access to 18 facilities.
It was stated that the number of military facilities that the US army and American defense companies control or have access to in Australia has reached 110, and this figure constitutes more than half of all military facilities in the country. Professor Richard Tanter, who prepared the study, pointed out that this was "a matter of pervasiveness, not penetration" and that more than half of the defense facilities examined had some level of American access.
Tanter argued that the United States has been building the capacity to use Australia to conduct intense military operations in a possible war with China for more than 10 years, and that Australia has completely "aligned itself with American strategic planning." It was stated that the 92 defense facilities accessible to the US army were used as logistics centers for intelligence collection, access to satellite data, interception of communications, training, deployment of combat assets, and storage of weapons, ammunition and fuel.
It was reported that the US-Australia joint intelligence facility Pine Gap, established in the north-central part of Australia, played a critical role in identifying targets in US attacks, hosted the ground control station for signals intelligence satellites, the relay ground station for early warning missile launch systems, and the facility that intercepted foreign satellite communications.
It was noted that under the Force Deployment Agreement, US forces and their contractors are provided with the opportunity to freely access and use the agreed upon military facilities, provided that Australia's sovereignty is fully respected. It was stated that the US military presence will expand next year and that approximately 1200 US soldiers will operate at the HMAS Stirling naval base in Garden Island in the west of Australia. The Australian government states that the presence of American soldiers will be in the form of a "rotation" and not a base.
Former Defense Minister Christopher Pyne stated that the AUKUS security and defense partnership between Australia, the USA and the UK is "much more than submarine supply" and that the partnership creates a new base for US submarines in the Indian Ocean and that this is a "tremendous strategic advantage" for the Americans.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles emphasized that "the US presence is growing" in his country and that this is important for national security, and that the American military presence on the continent will increase in the next few years.
AUSTRALIANS' TRUST IN THE USA HAS DECREASED
It was stated that Australians' trust in the USA has declined. According to the Lowy Institute's survey, the rate of those who trust that the USA will act responsibly in the international arena dropped to 31 percent, and the rate of those who trust that US President Donald Trump will do the right thing in world affairs dropped to 21 percent.
The Australia Institute's survey revealed that 59 percent of Australians believe that the country's interests would be better protected by a more independent foreign policy rather than a closer alliance with the United States. The Australia Institute's director of international and security affairs, Dr. Emma Shortis has argued that Australia's increasing integration with the US military has led to the country's independent and sovereign decision-making authority gradually weakening.
Dr. from the University of New South Wales Albert Palazzo also argued that the US army's accelerating military build-up poses a danger to Australia's security, and that the government is taking the country "waltzing towards the war between the US and China".
Author of the book "The US Lobby and Australian Defense Policy", Dr. Vince Scappatura also described the US's access to bases across Australia as the "second wave of colonization" and stated that Australia has begun to become a "leading element" in reflecting the US's military power in the region.
