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.
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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.
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.
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 has been contacted for comment.
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