The coalition government of the Liberal and National parties under Prime Minister John Howard is seeking a fourth term at national polls later this year. Howard’s government sent Australian troops to join the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last three years.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in March that the Canberra-Washington alliance would have been weakened “very substantially” if the Australian government had not sent troops to Iraq. The ruling class here has traditionally allied itself with London and Washington to advance its own imperialist interests in the Pacific and around the world. During Howard’s visit to Washington in June, U.S. president George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell described Latham’s withdrawal proposal as “disastrous.”

U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said at the time that countries like Australia could not have an “a la carte” alliance to pick and choose in their allegiance to Washington. He also claimed after talks with Labor figures that the ALP leadership was “rent up the middle” over U.S. relations.

Several liberal capitalist politicians, mainly from the ALP, protested these statements as “interference” from Washington in the election process. Others, like Labor state premier of New South Wales Robert Carr, warned Latham of Washington’s sensitivities over the occupation of Iraq. Latham attacked Howard’s use of the statements by Armitage as risking “running down public support for the U.S. alliance.”

Latham’s promise to pull Australian troops out of Iraq “by Christmas” came days after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Spanish Socialist Party was elected prime minister of Spain. Zapatero had promised to pull Madrid’s troops out of Iraq, and did so after taking office. Latham’s call caused alarm in ruling circles despite ALP pledges soon afterwards to keep Australian naval and air forces in the Arab-Persian Gulf region as part of the imperialist encirclement of Iraq, as well as small forces inside the country.  
 
War on ‘identifiable sources’ of attack
On July 12, Latham brought his former rival in the ALP leadership, Kim Beazley, back to the front benches of the party as his military spokesman. Beazley, an ardent supporter of the Australian government’s alliance with Washington, was defense minister in a previous Labor government from 1986 to 1990, when Canberra sent troops the U.S.-led Gulf War. He later served as deputy prime minister. Howard, while in the opposition in 1990, had said Beazley would be the only Labor member of his ideal “war cabinet.”

The same day, Latham gave a speech to the Australian Institute of International Affairs pledging a military commitment to future U.S.-led wars against any “identifiable source” of attack, saying this was why the ALP backed the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan. He described Washington as a “force for good” in the world. He further qualified his controversial call for the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq “by Christmas.” A Labor government, he said, would continue a form of military commitment to the occupation of Iraq, albeit under United Nations command.

This contrasted with a speech on foreign policy Latham had given April 7, soon after his election as ALP leader. Appealing to “Australia first” nationalism, he had declared “a sovereign foreign policy” would mean directing “military capabilities primarily to the defense of Australia…rather than to expeditionary forces overseas.”

U.S. ambassador to Australia Tomas Schieffer welcomed Latham’s policy “evolution.” Schieffer said the ALP’s differences with Washington had “narrowed.”

Before his ascension to the ALP leadership, Latham had criticized Bush as “the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory.” He had also called Howard an “arselicker” for being among the first to join Washington’s “coalition of the willing.” He and other ALP leaders had said they opposed the U.S.-led invasion without full UN backing.

Soon after being elected opposition leader at the end of last year, Latham held a press conference, flanked by the Australian and U.S. flags, to affirm his support for the Australian capitalists’ key alliance in the world. Latham later explained in an ABC TV interview that as leader of the opposition he now had responsibility “to put the American alliance…as the starting point.”

At the same time, Latham issued a joint statement with his shadow foreign minister Kevin Rudd. Titled “Australia’s Alliance with the United States,” the statement said alignment with Washington is fundamental to the Australian rulers’ “national interests” and security. They said the alliance was “formed by Labor Prime Minister John Curtin” in 1941 during World War II in the midst of interimperialist conflict with Tokyo. Saying this has been the stance of “every Labor leader over the past 62 years,” the statement noted that “from time to time our interests will differ, as they did on Iraq.”  
 
Joint bases with Washington
In February, Latham and Rudd made a much-publicized tour of Pine Gap, a key U.S. communication center for spy satellites in central Australia. Latham described the base, now run as a “joint” station, as “a very important facility in Australia’s national interest.”

On July 9, Australian ministers for defense, Robert Hill, and foreign affairs, Alexander Downer, met U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell at annual bilateral talks in Washington. At the end of the meeting, the two governments announced a set of joint military training bases to be set up in northern Australia.

The three ranges will be at existing Australian military sites near Rockhampton in Queensland, and near Darwin and Katherine in the Northern Territory. They will be linked by high technology communications to U.S. bases, including the U.S. Pacific War Fighting Center in Hawaii.

Tens of thousands of U.S. and Australian forces will use the facilities to conduct joint operational training, including with live munitions. The base near Darwin is planned as a staging post to store heavy U.S. military equipment such as tanks for rapid deployment in the region.

Michael McKinley of the Australian National University noted that the new bases would extend Washington’s capacity for intervention in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Underdeveloped countries in the region, he said, will see this as another step in Australian imperialism’s role as Washington’s “deputy sheriff.”

Chris Evans, Labor’s military spokesman, who has now been replaced by Beazley, welcomed the bases plan. “Labor has always strongly supported joint training between the Australian Defence Force and the military forces of all our allies, including the United States,” Evans said.
 
 
Related articles:
NATO force in Baghdad expands world reach of imperialist alliance
Powell to U.S. allies: ‘don’t get weak in knees’
Labor Party drops call for Iraq troop withdrawal, affirms alliance with Washington  
 
 
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