| IPAN Patrons: Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe AO & Kellie Tranter Lawyer & Human Rights Activist
MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13 March 2025
‘Senator Jacqui Lambie’s suggestion that Australia should close Pine Gap in response to President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Australian steel exports to the US, highlights the importance of Australian sovereignty’, according to Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN)’s spokesperson, Professor Richard Tanter.
‘However, Senator Lambie’s commendably strong response to the Trump administration’s bullying contains a serious problem’, stated Professor Tanter.
‘The threats posed to Australia by Pine Gap, a critical part of US nuclear command and control operations, are multiple and profound’. ‘A transactional approach to Pine Gap, however well intentioned, is not appropriate’, said Professor Tanter.
‘Senator Lambie’s positive suggestion inadvertently implies that Australia would accept Alice Springs being a high priority nuclear target, if the price was right. That can never be acceptable’, said Professor Tanter.
While IPAN supports the call for Pine Gap to be closed, the reasons are different from Senator Lambie’s.
IPAN’s long standing position is that Pine Gap presents inherent risks to Australia and should be closed for a number of reasons:
- Alice Springs and its residents being a high priority nuclear target
- US supplied Pine Gap-derived intelligence assists US and Western military operations in wars which also draws Australia into them
- Pine Gap systems are critical enabling components of nuclear attack planning and operations
- If the US war went to war with China, Pine Gap would draw Australia in – amplifying the risk of Pine Gap and the residents of Alice Springs being targeted
‘For these reasons, IPAN holds that closure of Pine Gap would be in the best interests of Australia for the peace and security of our population’
‘Senator Lambie rightly pointed out that Australia should resist diplomatic bullying of all kinds – over economic policy and about defence policy’, stated Professor Tanter.
‘However, the foundation of our thinking about relations with the United States should be sovereignty and identification of when Australian and foreign interest align, and when they diverge, but never transactional’, said Professor Tanter.
At a time when a former Australia Prime Minister is organising a conference to discuss a rethink of the Australia-US alliance and the question of sovereignty, Senator Lambie’s overall call is another welcome initiative in support of a rethink of Australian sovereignty.
ENDS
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For Media Interviews: Richard Tanter 0407 824 336
IPAN Media Liaison: Jonathan Pilbrow, 0403 611 815
Bio: Professor Richard Tanter is Senior Research Associate, Nautilus Institute, and Honorary Professor in the School of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Professor Tanter is a researcher and writer on the US bases and their influence on Australian foreign policy. |
