Source : Perth Now news
The US “wants to fight their next war from Australia”, new Greens leader David Shoebridge has warned, in remarks branding the alliance a “deep betrayal of Australia’s interests”.
Senator Shoebridge claimed his party’s top job last week in a snap leadership contest held after former leader Larissa Waters stepped down due to health issues.
He won alongside running mate and upper house colleague Steph Hodgins-May, with the pair declaring that only the Greens can “stop One Nation” while vowing to “replace Labor” because of its rightward drift.
In an exclusive interview with NewsWire, Senator Shoebridge said Australia’s alliance with the US is making it a target in any future conflict in the region.
“Australia is in one of the most geopolitically safe parts of the planet,” he said.
“We have the Pacific Ocean on one side, the Indian Ocean on the other, this massive island archipelago, and thousands of kilometres between us and any other significant landmass.
“And our only security threat comes from hosting a superpower’s bases here that make us a target in a conflict.”
While there are no permanent US bases in Australia, access arrangements let the US military deploy troops and assets to Australia, such as the 2000 marines based in Darwin.
Australia and the US also jointly operate more than a dozen defence facilities across the continent.
“The United States has decided that its ability to fight the next war it wants to have — in this case, a war against China — is unachievable from its current bases in the western Pacific,” Senator Shoebridge said.
“They know that, and so they have decided to bring the front line of that war to Australia.
“That’s why they’ve located nuclear-capable B-52 bombers here.
“That’s why they’ve got our government to build them, at incredible expense, a nuclear submarine base off Perth.
“That’s why they’re doubling down on Pine Gap. That’s why they’re covering the country with munition dumps. That’s why they’re trying to make our military interoperable with them.
“Because the United States wants to fight its next war from Australia.”
Pointing to American allies in the Middle East, he said US bases have only endangered them amid the spiralling conflict with Iran and its proxies. “They are becoming targets now,” Senator Shoebridge said.
“I can understand why the United States might want to do this – it may well be in their interests.
“But for the life of me, I cannot understand how the Labor Party, the Coalition, and One Nation all want to do this.
“It is a deep betrayal of Australia’s interests. It is a deep, deep betrayal.”
The Albanese government has committed almost $120bn to boosting Australia’s advanced missile stocks, kitting out the navy with state-of-the-art frigates and building the infrastructure to support a bigger military.
The build up comes against a backdrop of increasing Chinese military aggression toward Australia and its Asian neighbours, especially the Philippines.
Last year, Chinese warships circumnavigated Australia and carried out live fire drills off the East Coast.
In comments afterwards, Defence Minister Richard Marles stopped just short of confirming the flotilla had targeted Australian cities.
He refused to confirm because it would reveal “our surveillance capabilities”.
“So we do know exactly what they were doing and exactly what they were rehearsing,” he said at the time.
Canberra has also accused China of “unsafe” activity, including dropping flares close to Australian surveillance planes in international airspace.
Asked about Australia’s role in a potential conflict between the US and China over Taiwan, Senator Shoebridge said Australia “should act for its material interests”.
He dismissed the idea that the US would come to Taiwan’s aid “because they believe in Taiwanese democracy”.
“The United States is acting for its own material interests, and Australia should act for its material interests,” Senator Shoebridge said.
“And for the people of Taiwan, a catastrophic war that destroys Taiwan is not in the interests of the people of Taiwan.
“Australia should be doing all we can to de-escalate in the region and to deal with the region through our national interests, not through those of Washington.”
