Expanded US Marine Corps presence in NT could deter Australia’s adversaries, report says

A major expansion of US Marine Corps deployments to Australia to 16,000 a year would deliver the cheapest possible boost to Australia’s ability to deter potential adversaries, a new report says.

US Marine Corps Captain Andrew Johnson watches an MV-22B Osprey land on Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Adelaide during Exercise Southern Jackaroo 23. Picture: Skyler M. Harris/ US Marine Corps

A major expansion of US Marine Corps deployments to Australia to 16,000 a year would deliver the cheapest possible boost to Australia’s ability to deter potential adversaries, a new report says.

The Institute of Public Affairs’ report says the nation’s defence posture has failed to shift to reflect growing strategic threats, and the risk of conflict in the second half of the 2020s had increased “alarmingly”.

Prepared by former Defence official Peter Jennings, the report says the government should open talks with the US to expand its annual Marine Corps rotations from the current 2500 personnel a year to a full expeditionary brigade of 16,000.

“To be frank, a larger USMC presence in northern Australia offers the cheapest boost to deterrence Australia could possibly buy,” the report says.

“This approach complements the American military strategy of dispersal through the Indo-­Pacific and would add substantially to US and Australian capacity to train with and engage the armed forces of neighbouring countries.”

The paper also calls for the government to consider asking the US to buy sixth-­generation B-21 stealth bombers as an AUKUS “Plan B”, but acknowledges acquiring the platform would carry “significant costs” and the US will not begin to operate the platform itself until 2027.

The free-market think tank’s report follows a warning by former army chief Peter Leahy that Australia has become a “strategic liability” to the US, and comes as Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong prepare to meet American counterparts for annual “2+2” AUSMIN talks in Washington.

Writing in The Australian last week, Lieutenant General Leahy said the Australian Defence Force was “stretched too thin” and unprepared to fight at short notice.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has hit back, saying the government has taken significant action to accelerate the delivery of new capabilities. “Acquisition programs identified as strategic priorities are being accelerated, with initial delivery dates brought forward and the time for completion of programs being reduced,” he writes in a new opinion piece for The Australian.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“In the past few weeks, we’ve announced we’re equipping the Australian Army with its first loitering munition and announced the largest-ever contract for an Australian manu­facturer of small, uncrewed aerial systems.”

He says the government has also brought forward the delivery of new infantry fighting to the army, fast-tracked the procurement of new general purpose frigates, and accelerated the scheduled delivery of Australia’s first AUKUS submarine by nearly a decade.

“The Albanese government regards safeguarding Australians and promoting our national interests as our highest duty and the reality is we are speeding up major defence capability acquisitions to meet the strategic challenges we face as a nation,” Mr Conroy says.

Ahead of the AUSMIN meeting on Wednesday AEST, Mr Marles met at the Pentagon with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said the pair would chart a path “to strengthen our alliance over the coming years”.

The talks come against a backdrop of rising Middle East tensions and soaring concerns over Beijing’s intimidation of its neighbours in the South China Sea.

Mr Marles said: “We’re seeing America’s force posture in Australia grow really significantly, AUKUS is part of that, but it’s not the only part of that. The marine rotation in Darwin is growing across all the domains.”