Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question and for his very strong support for Defence facilities in Western Australia. I can confirm that for some two years now the Australian government has been negotiating with the United States an agreement that will see a number of ground based satellite communications systems placed in appropriate locations in Australia.

The first one, which has not yet been finally agreed but which we expect to conclude in the next few months, is for an unmanned ground based facility at Geraldton, which will be a satellite communications system for the United States military and its allies. For reasons I would expect the House to appreciate, I will not go into the specific details, but the facility will support not only the operation of the United States military and its allies but also Australian troops.

As the Minister for Foreign Affairs said, it will be conducted with the full knowledge and concurrence of the Australian government—in other words, we will be fully aware of the information that goes through that ground based system. We are also negotiating for a number of other ground based facilities which will have a non-military use. The United States-Australia alliance is extremely important. It is not just about friendship; it is also about our capability: military capability, intelligence sharing, the interoperability between our two militaries and, of course, the security of Australia’s people, interests and values.

I was asked about alternative views. The Australian National University conducts a survey every federal election and it asks the candidates seeking to be elected to the federal parliament their views on a number of issues. It is interesting that amongst its questions in 2004 the Australian National University asked: ‘Is the United States a threat to Australia’s security?’ It is rather extraordinary that anyone would think of the need to ask such a question; nonetheless, the ANU asked people standing for election to the federal parliament whether they thought that the United States, Australia’s key ally, is a threat to Australia’s security. I was staggered to read that 22 per cent of candidates, or one in four, standing for election for the Australian Labor Party believed that the United States is a threat to Australia’s security.

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