US to test WMDs in Australia

Last Friday the Courier Mail revealed that the US will 
test new-generation weapons, including smart bombs, on Australian 
territory under an agreement signed by the Howard Government with 
the US military for the establishment of three new military 
"training bases" in Australia last July. At the time Australian 
Defence Minister Robert Hill said: "By creating a training 
environment in Australia to test and evaluate our forces in a 
wide range of scenarios, our countries should be better able to 
integrate our military capabilities to meet the challenges of the 
21st century."

He spoke of Australia "enhancing a number of our ranges, in 
particular the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, the 
Delamere Air Range in the Northern Territory and also the new 
Bradshaw Range in the Northern Territory. And we intend these 
ranges to be ultimately interlinked and with, as I said, 
instrumentation and simulation, both of our forces can take 
opportunities to train together to the highest possible 
standard."

These bases and Last Friday's revelations indicate that the new 
bases in Queensland and the Northern Territory are much more than 
mere "training bases".

According to former ANZUS advisor Ross Babbage, who has recently 
returned from strategy briefings at the Pentagon, the bases will 
be used to test new-generation weapons of mass destruction, 
including computer-controlled missiles (so-called "smart bombs") 
and carry out experiments in hi-tech warfare, including mock 
attacks from US aircraft carriers.

The Bradshaw Range would be used for extensive special operations 
by ground forces and surveillance training.

A new Joint Combined Training Centre would link the Australian 
centres with US bases and the US Pacific War Fighting Centre in 
Hawaii to provide real-time battlefield assessments.

Shoalwater Bay will be the site of Talisman Sabre in 2007, 
exercises involving more than 20,000 troops, live bombing raids, 
amphibious landings, sea manoeuvres and simulations.

Babbage is reported as saying that the program would place 
Australia among the highest-priority training grounds for the US 
in the world. He also spoke of the potential for the new bases to 
be used by the US to stage deployments to "hot spots" in this 
part of the world.

Denis Doherty, spokesperson for the Australian Anti-Bases 
Campaign Coalition (AABCC), warned of the dangers from 
Australia's increasing involvement in US war plans. "These 
developments threaten good neighbourly relations with the 
countries in our region. China has already called us the 'cat's 
claw' of the US. Security is built on good relations with our 
neighbours rather than cuddling up to the world's bully [the 
US]", he said.

It can only raise new fears and suspicions, heighten the risk of 
terrorist attacks and further isolate Australia in the Asia-
Pacific region.

The new bases also pose new dangers for the environment and local 
communities, particularly for Indigenous Australians whose land 
is yet again being used for testing with who knows what chemicals 
or even nuclear materials. The US has a very poor track record 
everywhere it has set up camp.

Many locals in Shoalwater Bay on the central Queensland coast 
were horrified when they heard about plans to extend the military 
presence there with a new joint training centre. The Shoalwater 
Bay region is an environmentally significant area, part of the 
Great Barrier Reef. It is home to the largest Dugong population 
in the Reef — the Dugongs are classified as a vulnerable 
species, and are found only in Australian waters.

Some saw the military presence as generating jobs and a means of 
gaining improved roads and services. But the testing of weapons 
adds a whole new dimension, posing additional dangers and 
increasing regional and local insecurity.