The AUSMIN 2023 talks between the United States Secretaries of State and Defense and their Australian counterparts, confirmed the increasing and unaccountable militarisation of Australia鈥檚 north in preparation for a future conflict with Beijing.
Details were skimpy, but the performance from defence minister Richard Marles and foreign minister Penny Wong was crawling, lamentable, even outrageous.
State secretary Antony Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin III could only look on in wonder at their prostrate hosts.
Money, much of it from the US military budget, is being poured into upgrading, expanding and redeveloping Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) bases in the Northern Territory city of Darwin and Tindal, situated 320 kilometres south-east of Darwin, both听听to听鈥渁ddress functional deficiencies and capacity constraints in existing facilities and infrastructure鈥.
Two new locations are also being proposed at RAAF Bases Scherger and RAAF Curtin, aided by site surveys.
罢丑别听, while revealing nothing in terms of operational details or costs, proved heavy with talk about 鈥渢he ambitious trajectory of Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation across land, maritime, and air domains, as well as Combined Logistics, Sustainment and Maintenance Enterprise (CoLSME)鈥.
In addition, there would be 鈥淓nhanced Air Cooperation鈥 with a rotating 鈥淯S Navy Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft in Australia to enhance regional maritime domain awareness, with an ambition of inviting likeminded partners to participate in the future鈥.
Further details have come to light about the money being spent by the Pentagon on facilities in Darwin.
罢丑别听听at the RAAF Darwin base 鈥渋ncludes the construction (design-bid-build) of a United States Air Force squadron facility at the 鈥 (RAAF) in Darwin, Australia鈥.
The project is deemed necessary to add space 鈥渇or aircrew flight equipment, maintenance and care, mission planning, intelligence, crew briefings, crew readiness and incidental related work鈥.
Some of the systems are mundane, but deemed important for an expanded facility, including ventilating and air conditioning, water heating, plumbing, utility energy meters and sub-meters and a building automation system (HVAC Control system).
Correspondents from the ABC听听into the squadron operations facility, consulting US budget filings and tender documents to reveal cost assessments of A$40 million.
A further parking apron at RAAF Darwin is estimated to cost somewhere in the order of A$391听billion.
This will further听听the East Arm fuel storage facility for the US Air Force located 15 kilometres from Darwin that should be able to, on completion by September, store 300 million litres of military jet fuel intended to support US military activity in the Northern Territory and Indo-Pacific region.
According to the tender documents, the squadron operations facility also had a broader, more strategic significance 鈥渢o support strategic operations and to run multiple 15-day training exercises during the NT dry season for deployed B-52 squadrons鈥.
The RAAF Tindal facility鈥檚 redevelopment, slated to conclude in 2026, is also intended to accommodate six B-52 bombers.
Given their nuclear capability, residents in the Northern Territory should be alarmed.
Michael Shoebridge, founder and director of conservative Strategic Analysis Australia,听听by this state of affairs. He is unhappy with听Canberra鈥檚 reticence on US-Australian military arrangements and none too keen on a debate that is only being informed by US-based sources.
鈥淎 public debate needs to be enabled by information and you can鈥檛 have a complete picture without knowing where the money is being spent.鈥
While it is hard to disagree with that, Shoebridge鈥檚 outfit, in line with such think tanks as the equally conservative Australian Strategic Policy Institute, is not against turning Australia into a frontline fortress state ready for war. What he and his colleagues take issue with is the US鈥 overwhelmingly dominant role.
Those in Washington, Shoebridge argues, seem to 鈥渦nderstand the urgency we don鈥檛 seem to鈥.听Rather than questioning Australia鈥檚 need for a larger military capability to fight confected foreign adversaries, he accepts the premise, wholeheartedly. Canberra should muck in more and pull its weight, he said, including drumming up Australian personnel for the killing.
Anthony Bergin, a senior fellow of Strategic Analysis Australia, suggested a familiar formula. He听听to improve 鈥渙ur national security, we should be looking at options short of conscription which wouldn鈥檛 be as hard to sell to the Australian people鈥.
He thought the timing perfect for such a move. 鈥淭here鈥檚 now a latent appetite for our political leaders to introduce measures to bolster national resilience.鈥澨
This silly reading only makes sense on the assumption that the Australian public has been softened sufficiently by such hysterical affronts as the听听campaign, waged by Nine Publishing (formerly Fairfax Media).
Options to add padding to Australia鈥檚 military preparedness include doubling or tripling school cadets and cadet programs of the 鈥渙utdoor bound鈥 type based in the regions.
But more important would be the creation of a 鈥渘ational militia training scheme鈥.
Bergin is, however, displeased by the difficulty of finding 鈥渧olunteers of any kind鈥, a strange comment given the huge, unpaid volunteer army that governs the delivery of numerous services in Australia, from charities to fire fighting.
Alison Broinowski, a former diplomat,听听that the current moves constitute 鈥渁nother step in the same direction 鈥斕齛 step that the government has been taking a series of for years; accepting whatever the United States government wants to place on Australian soil鈥.
More鈥檚 the pity that most details come from Washington sources, indicating Canberra鈥檚 abject subordination to the US imperium.
[Binoy Kampmark currently lectures at RMIT University.]