Reject US military interference in Australia

Written by: Nick G. on 5 June 2025

 

(Above: Marles and Hegseth.  Original image https://www.skynews.com.au)
 

The US imperialists are brazenly demanding an increased level at which Australia commits to “defence” spending.

Coming from any other country, these demands would be rejected as interference in Australian sovereign decision-making, but neither Marles nor Albanese have adopted such a principled stance.

Despite some minor differences in approach by Marles and Albanese, it really comes down to when, and by how much, the Australian “defence” budget will be altered to accommodate the demands of our US rulers.

The current level is 2.02 per cent of GDP with a projected increase to 2.33 per cent of GDP by 2034.

But Trump is demanding that it be raised to at least 3 per cent. 

Peter Hegseth, US Secretary of “Defense” told the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on May 31 that countries in our region should be looking to 5 per cent.

“It is hard to believe I can say this, but Asian allies and partners should look to countries in Europe as a newfound example. NATO members are pledging to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense, even Germany,” Hegseth said.

In our region, this is for US preparations for war against its main imperialist rival, China.

The US wants to use our continent as a base for threatening China. The Force Posture Agreement between Australia and the US guarantees the US imperialists access to whatever areas in Australia that it wants, and for whatever purposes it wants, and for Australia to cover the cost.

According to the US website Breaking Defense, “One of the ways Washington hopes to deter Beijing is by first by improving forward force posture of US forces in the region, citing the example of the deployment of more advanced US military capabilities to the Philippines and the planned live-firing of the Typhon Strategic Mid-range Fires System in Australia later this year.

“The event will take place in July during the Talisman Sabre exercise, marking the first firing of the weapon outside of the US….”

Typhon is a United States Army transporter launcher for Standard SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles.

In April 2024, the Army operationally deployed Typhon batteries to the northern Luzon in the Philippines, making its first deployment overseas. According to US Army officials, from that position in Luzon, Typhon's missiles could cover not only the entire Luzon Strait but also reach the Chinese coast and various People's Liberation Army bases in the South China Sea. According to Philippines “defence” officials, the system was not used in live-fire exercises, but Philippine troops were trained on how to handle and maintain the missile system.

Now, without any consultation with the Australian people, and with the complicity of Marles and Albanese, a live-firing of one of the two Raytheon missiles used by Typhon, namely the RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM) or the Tomahawk, will be fired in the direction of the South China Sea, setting Australia on a war course with China directed by the US.

In March 2023, the US sold more than 200 Tomahawks to the Australia Navy worth an estimated US$895 million, with a further sale of support equipment worth US$250 million in 2024.

In December 2024, Marles said the RAN had successfully fired its first ever Tomahawk missile. The missile was fired from a Hobart-class air warfare destroyer, making Australia the third nation, after the United States and UK, to acquire and fire the weapon.

Australia has not yet won genuine independence from imperialism. 

First the British, and now the US, dominate and control the Australian state and its most important institution, the armed forces.

US control of Australia and its increasing military interference here must be rejected.

This can only be done by the organised revolutionary working class with the support of the progressive anti-imperialist allies in other sections of Australian society.

More of those allies are emerging and the movement is growing stronger.

 

Print Version - new window Email article

-----

Go back