Category Archives: US-Australia Alliance

IPAN – Interim Report on costs and consequences of the US-Australia Alliance released

Independent and Peaceful Australia Network, Promoting Peace, US-Australia Alliance,
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The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) has released an Interim Report entitled A People’s Inquiry: Exploring the Case for an Independent and Peaceful Australia.  This Inquiry has investigated the costs and consequences of Australia’s involvement in US-led wars and the US-Australia Alliance.

The objective of the Inquiry was to encourage submissions from individuals and organisations on eight focus areas associated with the US-Australia Alliance – including social, political, military and defence, economic and environmental impacts – leading to a report that outlines a credible pathway towards achieving  a genuinely independent foreign policy for Australia. Continue reading IPAN – Interim Report on costs and consequences of the US-Australia Alliance released →

Does the government now attach greater significance to preparations for war than it does to seeking peaceful co-existence?

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Photo: The Canberra Times – Australian FA-18F Super Hornet. Click to enlarge.

That is the question MPG has put to the Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon. Linda Reynolds, in a letter.

MPG’s letter points to the fact that Australia has ignored the UN Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire, by announcing an additional $270 billion expenditure on defence. Meanwhile it also ignores the risk of Covid-19 infection by hosting US marines in Darwin and by joining the RIMPAC naval exercises off the coast of Hawaii.

All of these points support the contention that the Australian government is more intent on preparing for war, than it is on maintaining peace. It is a sorry state of affairs. The full text of the letter can be read here.

“Give ’em the boot!”

US Marines in Darwin, US-Australia Alliance

MPG has joined the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) in a campaign aimed at ousting the US marines from Darwin. Up to 2,500 US marines are arriving in Darwin during April. Under an agreement that will last until 2040, the marines are here ‘on rotation’ every year. The reasons for this extraordinary deployment have never been made clear and opponents argue that, rather than making the nation safer, they increase to likelihood of some future attack.

 

MPG has been letter-boxing in Sydney and Newcastle, asking people to donate old boots and shoes that will later be ‘given’ to the Australian authorities. Peace activists are demanding that the ‘Force Posture Agreement’ between the US and Australian governments be terminated. The campaign in NSW is being led by Nick Deane and Bevan Ramsden.

Pine Gap is Putting Australia in Danger

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pine gap nautilus institute
Pine Gap Spy Base

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the agreement between the Australian and American governments relating to the establishment of a Joint Defence Space Research Facility (Pine Gap, Northern Territory).

According to Prof Richard Tanter (Nautilus Institute) Pine Gap is perhaps the most important United States intelligence facility outside that country. Continue reading Pine Gap is Putting Australia in Danger →

Two Forums on Pine Gap and the US-Australia Alliance

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US Andersen Air Base in Guam

Two public forums on Pine Gap and the US-Australia Alliance were held in Lidcombe on 11 and 25 September. Both were organised by the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) and the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition (AABCC).

The first of these forums featured three speakers: James O’Neill who discussed the US-China conflict in the South China Sea, Dr Emily Howie who reviewed the US global assassination campaign using drones and Dr Vincent Scappatura who addressed the perils of the US-Australia Alliance. A copy of James O’Neill’s paper can be read here. Continue reading Two Forums on Pine Gap and the US-Australia Alliance →

Correspondence with the Minister

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Marise Payne
Sen Marise Payne, Minister for Defence

A glaring deficiency in the 2016 Defense White Paper is the lack of any serious engagement with scholarship that questions the ‘US-Australia Alliance = National Security’ equation and its evident risks. This is quite extraordinary given the devastating impact of US involvement in the Indochina Wars (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos)1 and more recently the US invasion of Iraq and the de-stabilisation of Middle Eastern countries that has fueled sectarianism and the rise and spread of extreme jihadi groups like ISIS. Continue reading Correspondence with the Minister →