The Force Posture Agreement (FPA) clearly removes Australian sovereignty over what weapons may be launched or fired from this country by US Armed Forces. Even though the fiction is being peddled that this will occur at “Australian facilities”, the stark reality is that they are US bases under US control.
Following the timely open letter to the Australian Government The Abdication of Australian sovereignty, published in Pearls and Irritations on February 18, a couple of additional relevant details of the FPA might be usefully considered.
The US-Australia Force Posture Agreement (FPA) was signed in 2014 by the Abbott Government. It provides for the greatly expanded militarisation by the US of Northern Australia, and thus a significantly enhanced risk of that region being targeted by China in the event of the increasingly likely war which is being contrived by the USA.
Despite the opinion on the FPA of the Australian Treaty National Interest Analysis [2014] ATNIA 19, “that the initiatives will occur at Australian facilities, consistent with our long-standing policy that there are no foreign military bases on Australian soil”, this is demonstrably untrue, being yet another attempt to mask our loss of sovereignty.
In fact, Article VII of the FPA, dealing with the Prepositioning Of Defence Equipment, Supplies and Materiel, states:
“The prepositioned materiel of United States Forces, and Agreed Facilities and Areas designated for storage of such prepositioned materiel shall be for the exclusive use of United States Forces, and full title to all such equipment, supplies, and materiel remains with the United States. United States Forces shall have exclusive control over the access to, use of, and disposition of such prepositioned materiel.”
In short, Australia will have no control over the access to, use, or disposition of US weapons placed on our soil.
This provision of the FPA clearly removes Australian sovereignty over what weapons may be launched or fired from this country by US Armed Forces. As such, it constitutes a severe limitation of our capacity for independent action in the event of armed conflict.
Alarmingly, we have acquiesced in making ourselves a possible nuclear target, with zero control over the means by which we may very quickly become an actual one.
There are other provisions of the FPA which further limit our sovereignty. For example:
“United States Government aircraft, vessels, and vehicles shall be free from boarding and inspection without the consent of United States authorities.” Art. XII (1).
This would appear to permit the positioning of weapons, even possibly nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, on Australian soil without the knowledge or agreement of Australian governments.
Even though the fiction is being peddled that this will occur at “Australian facilities”, the stark reality is that they are US bases under US control.
The Force Posture Agreement, which severely curtails our national sovereignty, has the potential to result in the most devastating consequences in Australia’s history. We need to extricate ourselves as a matter of existential urgency.
Guest author Michael Callanan
Michael Callanan is a retired teacher of Logic and History, with an interest in international relations and contemporary history.
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