Antinuclear

Pat Conroy,Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry in denial about U.S. military bases (?targets) in Australia

Colin Mitchell, 31 July 26

On the 7.30 Report (Wed night) Pat Conroy would only talk about the current 5 year agreement for Rotational Force West due to end in 2032.  Presumably the agreement could be renewed or another agreement made in 2032 for another 5 years or longer.  He would not explicitly say that US subs would not come to HMAS Stirling after 2032 when asked directly by Sarah Ferguson on that.  Instead he simply repeated that the current agreement ends in 2032. 

“There are no foreign military bases in Australia” he said.  What a whopper! (Pine Gap and NWCape are “joint” US – Australian bases).

He insisted that US Subs will not be “based” here, simply rotated through, because they will not be at Stirling for more than a year!

He wouldn’t give any shorter time limit than a year.

As for the Treaty of Rarotonga that Treaty does not prevent nuclear weapons entering Australia as he implied.  It merely says that they can’t be “stationed” here.  What length of time “stationing” would be is not defined in the Treaty.  That leaves a gaping loophole in the Treaty.  The shortest time Pat Conroy would specify for Stirling is one year!  The Treaty of Rarotonga is no barrier to nuclear weapons transiting or “rotating” through Australia, with the length of time constituting  a “transit” or “rotation” not specified.  Pat Conroy’s idea would be anything less than a year.

A sub could go to sea and then come back again for another year!   Likewise a plane could fly out on an exercise and come back again.

Yes the US will respect the Treaty of Rarotonga because the Treaty does not prevent nuclear weapons from being in Australia for extended periods of time.

August 2, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | weapons and war