Senator Jacqui Lambie says Pine Gap should be closed if Trump puts tariffs on Australia

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie says if the Trump administration piles tariffs on Australia, US officials should be given a ‘boot up their backsides’ and forced out of Pine Gap.

Senator Jacqui Lambie says the Albanese Government should close down Pine Gap if tariffs are put on Australia. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Outspoken Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie says if the Trump administration were to pile tariffs on Australia, US officials should be given a “boot up their backsides” and forced out of Pine Gap.

The bold call was pitched by Senator Lambie on Channel 9 program Today on Monday morning.

The US are currently rolling out tough tariffs on a number of countries as part of President Trump’s ‘America first’ policy.

Australia’s hopes of escaping the hefty tariffs have faded, with the nation’s steel and aluminium producers expected to be whacked with a 25 per cent tariff as early as next week.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to put tariffs on Australia’s steel and aluminium producers. (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Asked of her reaction to the grim prediction, Senator Lambie said Australia had a countermove.

“We’ve got this thing called Pine Gap,“ she said.

“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.”

Established in the 1960s just outside Alice Springs, Pine Gap is regarded as one of the world’s most valuable intelligence bases.

Senator Lambie says the US need Pine Gap “like no tomorrow”.

Pine Gap continues to be operated by US intelligence officials, which Senator Lambie said offered the Albanese Government bargaining power.

“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,” she said.

“Tell ‘em you’ve got seven days to get your marines off our soil. Stop mucking around. Stop mucking around with ‘em.”

Senator Lambie’s comments come as former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also lashed out President Trump, who returned serve in kind in a late night post on Truth Social.

Federal Labor MP and Member for Solomon Luke Gosling told this masthead that Australia’s cooperation with the US through joint facilities was “one of our most long standing, and important security arrangements.”

“These facilities provide critical functions that directly support our national security, which we would not be able to realise by ourselves, and contribute to global counterterrorism efforts, verification and compliance monitoring of international arms control and disarmament agreements,” he said.

“Half the personnel at Pine Gap are Australian – with the Deputy Chief of Facility being an Australian position – established under the Hawke Government in 1988.

“These joint cooperation facilities are bigger than decisions made under one Administration, it’s a testament to our ongoing collaboration with the United States, and commitment to sovereignty and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

Originally published as Senator Jacqui Lambie says Pine Gap should be closed if Trump puts tariffs on Australia