AUSTRALIA and the US appear to be close to agreeing on a major US military training base to be located in Queensland or the Northern Territory.
Defence Minister Robert Hill, in Singapore for meetings with regional defence ministers and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, today indicated an in principle agreement could be signed next month in Washington.
But no US forces or US military equipment would be permanently based in Australia, he said.
"People realise that with new capabilities, the options for power projection have vastly increased," he said on ABC radio.
"You don't need the same level of forward deployment that you once needed. The confusion in Australia has been that people have therefore assumed that the Americans would want to be basing forces in Australia.
"But we are not actually very conveniently located for any potential theatre."
Senator Hill said the training base would not be aimed at responding to events in any particular area.
"It would be capabilities that would have a global application," he said.
Senator Hill said such a facility would give Australia access to more sophisticated training facilities and boost its own defence capabilities.
Under the proposal, which has been under consideration for the past year, the US would fund a major upgrading of an existing Australian military training area, either at
Shoalwater Bay, Queensland, or at Mount Bundy or Bradshaw Station in the Northern Territory.
The facility would be described as a joint combined training centre.
Mr Rumsfeld said the US had several principles for establishing overseas facilities.
"We want to have our forces where people want them. We have no desire to be where we are not wanted," he said.
"We don't want to be in a static defence mode. We want to be in a more agile arrangement."
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