Despite Being Backstabbed by the US, Australia May Not Be Permitted to Ditch AUKUS

Since the Trump administration took the reins in the United States and its actions have heralded in a bold new uncertain order, long-term calls for Australia to pull out of AUKUS have been gaining traction. Yet, a recent development in the Northern Territory suggests that, as the US now operates of its accord on this continent, we may no longer have the ability to withdraw from the security pact.

Following the US imposition of a 25 percent tariff on all aluminium and steels imports, including those from Australia, Senator Jacquie Lambie suggested on 12 March 2025 that the nation should threaten to close the Joint Pine Gap facility in its red centre, while Greens leader Adam Bandt told Insiders on Sunday that the correct response would be to withdraw from the AUKUS pact altogether.

Yet, while the Lambie and Bandt suggestions have received a more welcomed response than PM Anthony Albanese’s decision to simply ride the tariffs out, the pulling of the plug on the more-than-half-a century-old Pine Gap surveillance facility, or even withdrawing from the 2021-established AUKUS (Australia, UK, US) pact, may no longer be viable in terms of our US masters.

Take the most recent development relating to the ever-increasing United States military presence in the Top End of this continent as an example, as last week, it came to light that our US “partners” in the AUKUS pact have built an eleven-tank bulk fuel storage facility on Darwin Harbour without even attempting to gain the correct planning approval from the territory government.

Indeed, this latest example shows that Washington is already operating within Australian jurisdiction, as if it was that of the United States, and as US president Donald Trump’s ongoing diatribe regarding his intention to have his nation annex both the country of Canada and the territory of Greenland, if necessary, by force, the globe’s largest superpower no longer considers allies beyond reproach.

Of its own accord

The reaction that the US was likely expecting from this country in regard to the imposition of tariffs on aluminium and steel exports is that of Albanese: to do nothing. And the response that it received from NT chief minister Lia Finocchiaro once it was discovered that the fuel storage facility was devoid of any planning approval, which was to simply look away, was too the expected reaction.

The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network condemns the Finocchiaro approach, however, with spokesperson Justin Tutty insisting that “such behaviour should be subject to the same penalties that would apply to any other business in breach of the Building Act 1993 (NT).”

“The NT chief minister’s justification for not enforcing any penalty because of the Australia-US alliance and the need to protect this relationship, actually prioritises the needs of the US above those of NT residents,” the IPAN spokesperson continued, adding that the development raises concerns about what else the territory will do to pander to US desires as it prepares for war.

The ABC explained on 10 March that the Project Caymus bulk fuel storage has been designed to hold 300 million litres of military-grade jet fuel, it sits on property leased from the NT Land Development Corporation and it’s a key component of US force posture military operations in the north of this continent, with US company Crowley commencing construction on the unfinished project in 2022.

The national broadcaster received a tip-off last month about the unfinished project, which had been slated for completion in September 2023, not having gone through the required process to gain building approval.

“The decision to not penalise Crowley should raise concerns for Territorians regarding whether the current government will govern with transparency and accountability,” Tutty underscored on 12 March.

“Leaders in Australia must stand up to the United States and demand compliance with Australian laws.”

US inroads in the Top End

After the declining British Empire’s pull out of Asia during World War II, Australia turned to the US to act as imperial protector, which culminated in the signing of the 1951 ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) security treaty, which unlike Washington’s guarantees with its NATO allies, provides our nation with no assurance that it would assist us when under attack.

This too led to the 1960s establishment of the joint Australia-US facilities at North West Cape and Pine Gap, of which the latter is Washington’s most important strategic military asset outside its mainland.

In 2011, the Obama administration cut a deal with the Gillard government, as part of the US pivot to Asia, which resulted in the signing of the 2014 Force Posture Agreement, which permits the US to secure a local presence in three important ways, with the first two comprising of 2,500 US Marines on rotation in the NT, as well as increasing interoperability between the two nation’s air forces.

The third force posture initiative involves the US having unimpeded access to an undisclosed number of local “facilities and areas”, of which Washington takes complete control of, when it decides it is going to upgrade such a facility, in much the same way that it has managed to construct a bulk fuel storage facility on Darwin Harbour, without anyone noticing it had no planning permission.

Although not completely obvious due to the optics, the AUKUS agreement builds upon the Force Posture Agreement, in that it seeks to establish a fourth US force posture, which is known as Submarine Rotational Force-West, and it will comprise of a joint US-UK rotational nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) presence at Western Australia’s HMAS Stirling by the year 2027.

AUKUS was sold to Australia on the promise that our nation would be receiving eight of its own SSN, via the paid technological knowhow and assistance of the US and the UK, and while the acquisition of our own AUKUS submarines sounds increasingly unviable, the United States will have SSN force posture in the west of this continent regardless of whether the nation has its own boats.

Following the announcement of the AUKUS optimal pathway in March 2023, further AUKUS developments have included the establishment of two permanent nuclear waste dumps at Stirling, as well as another south of Adelaide in South Australia.

In terms of air force interoperability, the US is currently upgrading the NT’s RAAF Base Tindal, which includes a storage facility for six nuclear-capable US B-52 bombers aimed at Beijing, and due to our nation’s deference to Washington’s policy of warhead ambiguity, Canberra will have no idea whether these jets or any other US military vessel in Australian shores will be carrying nuclear warheads.

The Albanese government also agreed in 2023 to our nation being designated as a domestic source for military purposes in United States law.

So, if our nation’s major party politicians were to simply turn around and state they now want to pull out of our “partnership” with the USA, this might not be a welcomed development.

The AUKUS trap

“Donald Trump is dangerous. Donald Trump is a threat to peace – a threat to democracy. And he is a threat to Australia,” Bandt told David Speers on Sunday, “Donald Trump right now is attacking marginalised communities and delivering for billionaires at home, and abroad, he’s attacking allies and ripping up long standing arrangements. Now, this should be a wakeup call for Australia.”

“We need to rethink our relationship with the United States,” the Australians Greens leader continued. “It is being led by a very dangerous man. We should get out of AUKUS. Now is not the time to be hitching Australia’s wagon to Donald Trump. It puts Australians at risk, and billions of dollars are being spent on submarines that may never arrive.”

Bandt delivered the type of leadership vision that many constituents would like to see our major party leaders embody. However, so subservient have both Albanese and Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton become, that they’d never consider opposing our US masters in such a manner.

So, with the shapeshifting form that international relations currently comprise, coupled with the strategic void this continent fills in terms of Washington’s vision of imminent war with China, it’s highly likely US masters wouldn’t accept an Australian AUKUS pull out at this time.