The United States military's presence in Australia is set to grow further, with Defence Minister Richard Marles flagging upcoming announcements on a greater US "force posture" on Australian soil after meeting Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Washington DC. The machinery of alliance politics keeps moving, and the people living under it get told this is all for their own good.
Marles said he and Foreign Minister Penny Wong would meet their US counterparts in the next few months and that, "You'll hear more from us about what [those changes] are at AUSMIN when we meet." The language is polished. The direction is plain. More US power on Australian soil, more decisions made above everyone else's heads.
Who Gets the Base, Who Gets the Bill
Marles said, "But ... since we've come to government, you can see a through-line of growing American force in Australia, and we think that's really important in terms of providing deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, providing for stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific. And that's very much in Australia's national interest." That line does the usual work of statecraft: dress up military expansion as peace, call it stability, and ask everyone else to swallow the bill.
The United States already has a significant military presence in Australia through existing force posture agreements, including the annual rotation of US Marines through Darwin and the establishment of Submarine Rotational Force — West at HMAS Stirling near Perth. About 1,000 US Navy personnel are set to be based at HMAS Stirling from next year to support American Virginia-class submarines operating out of the naval base. The base gets busier. The hierarchy gets deeper.
The Pentagon's readout of the meeting pointed to plans to grow the American military presence in Australia by "accelerat[ing] force posture initiatives at Australian bases." It suggested greater military-industrial cooperation between the two countries, including guided missile production. Australia signed a "force posture agreement" with Washington in 2014 aimed at securing the presence of US forces in Australia over the long term on the grounds it helps provide stability within the region, and assists with a quick response to humanitarian disasters.
What They Call Security
The readout also pointed to the sensitive issue of defence spending, as the US continues to pressure allies to substantially lift investment in their militaries. "Secretary Hegseth emphasized the need for capable allies to contribute to the collective defense and invest in their own sovereign security," it said. The pressure runs one way. The demand is always for more money, more hardware, more obedience.
Asked about Australia's defence spending, Marles said recent spending increases have been "well received." He said, "We now have defence spending at 2.8 per cent of GDP by the NATO measure, which puts us ahead of most NATO countries, with the exception of the Nordics, the Baltics, Poland, that kind of front line." He added, "That means our spending on this day, in respect of defence, is ahead of Germany, ahead of Britain, ahead of France, ahead of Spain, ahead of Italy. All of that is understood. We have one of the highest spends on defence in the Indo-Pacific."
Marles also reiterated his confidence that Australia will be delivered its first Virginia-class submarine as planned. Under the AUKUS agreement, Australia will buy three second-hand Virginia-class submarines from the US in the 2030s, with the first to be delivered in 2032. But the then-US president will have the final sign-off on whether the sale goes ahead, considering the US's own needs at the time. Even the purchase sits under someone else's veto. Sovereignty, apparently, comes with a signature from Washington.
Marles said the establishment of Submarine Rotation Force — West and the Henderson Defence Precinct offers the opportunity for US Navy submarines to undergo maintenance much closer to their critical area of operation, which creates sea days for the United States Navy. He said, "And that's ultimately why this is such an important agreement from the United States point of view. That's why they're walking down this path."
The Corporate Side of the War Economy
Earlier this week, Marles met with Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft and Google while visiting San Francisco. The federal government has been pushing to build stronger links with top AI companies in the hope of attracting US investment into Australian-based data centres. Treasury estimates suggest the construction of data centres in Australia to be worth about $150 billion by 2030.
Marles said securing more investment into AI in Australia is both an economic and national security priority, but there are also sensitive questions around community support. He said, "The whole point of what we've done in terms of articulating AI standards is to make sure that we are doing this in the right way in Australia, that we get the planning right so that the data centres are placed in appropriate places." He added, "That they come with power, so that the power infrastructure that is created to power these data centres actually makes a contribution to our overall power grid rather than taking from it."
He also said, "In terms of the investment that these companies are looking at making, to be honest that's a welcome message from their perspective. Without a social license this doesn't get done." That phrase says plenty. The companies want the investment. The government wants the investment. Everyone at the top wants the project to move. The only question left is how to manufacture enough consent to make it happen.
Marles said building relationships with companies developing frontier AI models is also critical for the Australian Defence Force, given the role AI is expected to play on future battlefields. He said, "When we look at all of the major platforms that we are operating today, going forward AI will have a part in respect of them," and, "And that's why this is such an important sovereignty question; it really matters that we have access to this technology." The language of sovereignty keeps getting used to justify deeper dependence on military and corporate power. The people below are told it’s protection. The institutions above call it progress.