AUSMIN talks: US paves way to station more troops and ‘significant assets’ on Aussie soil

The United States has paved the way for stationing more troops on Australian soil amid rising tensions with China, following the first talks between the two nations’ defence and foreign ministers known as AUSMIN under the second Trump administration.

Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with their US counterparts, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for the first AUSMIN talks since Mr Trump reclaimed the White House.

Speaking in Washington DC after the gathering, Mr Marles said that the US would place “significant assets” in Australia, including Osprey helicopters.

“At this AUSMIN, we’ve agreed to see the pre-positioning of significant American assets in Australia that includes the Ospreys that are operated by United States Marines through the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin,” he told reporters.

“And that was a very important outcome.”

He said that the US had also agreed to create an Oversight and Support Group — Australia that would oversee the US military presence in Australia.

“This is a measure that we have been seeking to have from the United States now for some years,” he said.

“Given the growing American footprint in Australia, what we’ve really been seeking is a coordination of that on the American side and that is what this group will be about.

“So that’s a really important administrative outcome of this year’s AUSMIN.”

Former Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo, who authored the 2009 Defence White Paper, told The Nightly that it was code for a potential US Forces command structure in Australia.

“The proposed US Oversight and Support Group could form the basis of a future US Forces Australia HQ,” Mr Pezzullo said.

“Such an evolution would be consistent with US command arrangements around the world, and would ultimately be the preference of the United States.

“The Australian Government would be apprehensive about such a change, but from a US point of view, it makes a great deal of sense, as the Pentagon works through the issues that arise in preparing to be able to potentially fight from Australia.”

The US already stations marines through Darwin under an agreement struck by the former Obama Administration and Gillard Government in 2014.

From 2027, US submariners operating on nuclear-powered submarines, the type Australia hopes to buy from the US, will formally rotate through HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.

Earlier this year, Mr Marles told The Nightly that Australians should expect to see more US troops on Australian soil.

The Trump Administration has repeatedly prioritised “accelerating US force posture initiatives in Australia,” and while the White House’s National Security Strategy released last week vowed to “harden and strengthen its military presence in the Western Pacific,” few details have been provided until now.

A joint fact sheet released by the US State Department set out its wish list.

It stated that the US forces rotating through Darwin would have their capacity expanded through logistics and infrastructure development, including the prepositioning of the Osprey helicopters.

It also identified scope for infrastructure works at the RAAF base in Amberley, and creating new northern and southern logistics hubs and co-producing new missiles, including hypersonics.

One defence source said the scoping out of Amberley, southwest of Ipswich in Queensland, meant the potential for the US to rotate US long-range bombers out of the RAAF base, as well as preposition in the event of a contingency.

The B-2 stealth bombers are the same aircraft that the US used to strike Iran’s nuclear sites in April. Having a potential forward base in Australia would reduce their need to refuel.

The four agreed to make good on Mr Trump’s order that AUKUS would be “full steam ahead”, despite AUKUS sceptic and Pentagon official Elbridge Colby commissioning an America First review.

But when questioned by Australian reporters in DC, Mr Marles was evasive, including on whether the US requested the Labor government raise defence spending.

“I’m not going to give you a running commentary on all of that; those are all conversations which are behind closed doors,” he said.

He said that the review into AUKUS was about strengthening the program but again refused to say how the Americans believed the scheme needed bolstering.

“It is America’s document,” he said.

“We are working with the United States and the United Kingdom about how we can make AUKUS better, that’s all I’m going to say.

“We are really transparent with the Australian public.”

Neither Mr Rubio nor Mr Hegseth accepted questions when they spoke to reporters, and instead gave scripted remarks.

Mr Hegseth did not publicly call for Australia to raise defence spending, despite sounding a warning on the weekend that allies that shirked their collective defence obligations would face consequences, while “model allies” that included South Korea and the Baltics would be rewarded.

Mr Rubio said he wanted to make his first visit to Australia, adding that it would be efficient to visit a country and a continent at the same time.

Liberal backbencher Andrew Hastie, who as opposition defence spokesman called for a debate on increasing US military presence on Australian soil said: “None of this was surprising.”

“Australia has unique geography, and the United States is looking to build strategic depth in the Indo-Pacific — as they did during the Second World War,” the former SAS Captain said.

“AUKUS will deliver that with HMAS Stirling becoming a US submarine base. But we also need to invest in our defence capabilities, and Labor’s underspend is leaving Australia at risk and with less strategic freedom.”