‘Boot ‘em’: Australia should kick US spies, marines out of the country to send Trump a message

A renegade senator has demanded Anthony Albanese hit America where it hurts in response to ‘disloyal’ Donald Trump’s treatment of Australia.

Anthony Albanese should boot American intelligence and military personnel out of the country to send a clear message to Donald Trump that “we’re not going to put up with [his] nonsense”.

That was the audacious demand made by Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie during an appearance on Channel 9 breakfast show Today.

The United States is planning to impose hefty tariffs on Australia – alongside other countries – and the president’s treatment of Ukraine shows “there’s no loyalty there”, the crossbencher said.

A hoped 11th exemption for local steel and aluminium producers facing a 25 per cent levy on exports to America looks all but dead in the water, according to reports today.

Pine Gap is a secretive intelligence base in the middle of the desert, jointly run by the US and Australia. Picture: AAP

A Google Earth image taken in late 2015 reveals the extent of the antenna systems at Pine Gap. Picture: Nautilus

“We’ve got this thing called Pine Gap,” Senator Lambie told Today host Karl Stefanovic.

“What I’d be doing is telling them we’ll close it down. That means their intelligence gathering for this end of the world, they won’t get anything.

“Pine Gap – they need it like no tomorrow. Just tell ‘em we’re going to switch it off in seven days. Give ‘em a real boot up their backsides. Tell ‘em you’ve got seven days to get your marines off our soil.

“Stop mucking around. Stop mucking around with ‘em.”

Clearly taken aback, a laughing Stefanovic asked Senator Lambie “who’s going to come rescue us?” if Australia’s relationship with the US is damaged.

“Come on, Jacqui. Come on When China sends a fishing vessel down, we need America to back us,” he said.

But Senator Lambie expressed doubt about whether Mr Trump would even honour its security pact in the event of war.

“Obviously there’s no loyalty and mateship left here. He’s made that quite clear.

“Don’t play by their rules. They’re certainly not playing by ours. They’re showing that friendship doesn’t matter anymore.

“It’s time to let him know we’re not going to put up with this nonsense. If we’re so important to them, he better start showing it.

“It’s about time we start throwing something back.”

Australia needs to fight back against the US and Donald Trump, Jacqui Lambie says. Picture: AFP

A US Air Force plane at Alice Springs Airport, being loaded with materials from Pine Gap.

Pine Gap, a joint top-secret spy base in the middle of the country, just outside Alice Springs, was established in the late 1960s and has rapidly expanded in the decades since.

Among the facility’s crucial functions is to act as an early warning system for missile launches by foreign adversaries, including nuclear strikes on America.

Pine Gap also controls a network of surveillance satellites that keep a watchful eye on Russia, North Korea and China, among other volatile nations.

Anthony Albanese’s hopes of a last-minute tariff exemption for Australia look to have been dashed. Picture: Nikki Short

Kicking America out of Pine Gap would send a clear message, Jacqui Lambie says. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

It’s a crucial part of a missile defence system run by the US and Japan and plays an important role in electronic intelligence in military hotspots, like the Middle East.

And in the evolving space warfare space, Pine Gap would play a central role.

Paul Dibb, a professor of strategic studies at Australian National University, has described the base as both a key asset for national security and “a priority target” in the event of war.

“In the late 1970s, it was made quite clear to me during talks in Moscow that Pine Gap was a priority Soviet nuclear target,” Professor Dibb wrote in an essay for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“And in 2016, I was warned: ‘In the event of nuclear war between Russia and America, you Australians will find that nuclear missiles fly in every direction.’”

Pine Gap is a massive, top-secret facility.

Pine Gap is America’s most important spy facility outside its borders.

The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability has dubbed Pine Gap the single most important US intelligence facility outside America.

The Americas and Antarctica are the only parts of the globe the base can’t spy on.

The base is heavily guarded by military and Australian Federal Police personnel.

Up to 1000 personnel, both Aussies and Americans, work at the base, it’s believed. It sits at the very core of Australia’s alliance with the US.

When it was built, the government told the public Pine Gap was a space research centre and it wasn’t until the 1980s that its true use and broad capabilities emerged.

The abrupt shift in US foreign policy, including a capitulation to Russian interests when it comes to its invasion of Ukraine, has sparked panic in the West.

Senator Lambie urged the government to take notice.

“It’s a reality check for Australia. We need to stand on our own two feet.”

In addition to its co-running of Pine Gap, the US military has a few thousand marines stationed in Australia and regularly sends personnel on secondment and for defence exercises.

Originally published as ‘Boot ‘em’: Australia should kick US spies, marines out of the country to send Trump a message