- by Bevan Ramsden
- The Guardian
- Issue #2191
Successive Australian governments’ misplaced priority on military “security” against a fictitious threat has left Australians without adequate fuel, food, and transportation security. The disruption to oil supplies resulting from the US-Israeli war on Iran has exposed this vulnerability.
At the time of writing, 470 service stations across Australia are without petrol or diesel and the cost of both these fuels has sky-rocketed, impacting on the cost and ability to transport produce from farm to supermarket. The cost of everyday foodstuffs is escalating. The recent interest rate hike has put further financial pressure on mortgage holders. Workers are being urged to use public transport or work from home to reduce demand on scarce fuel supplies. Any worsening of the situation could bring in petrol and food rationing.
Even prior to the Iran war, according to Foodbank Australia, around 20 per cent of households nationwide were severely food insecure, meaning they are skipping meals or going entire days without eating.
Their report highlighted how the housing crisis is intensifying the problem, with 48 per cent of renters experiencing food insecurity and being forced to choose between paying rent and buying food.
One must ask why, in a supposedly rich country like Australia, so many people are struggling to survive. Why has our fuel, food, and transportation security become so vulnerable to overseas war disruption?
The responsibility for this situation lies entirely with successive Australian governments of both major parties who have, for decades, focussed on military “security” for the nation and spent heavily in support of it. And this, despite lack of any realistic military threat, imminent or foreseen. They have, as part of their subservience to US foreign policy, persisted with the Force Posture Agreement and the AUKUS Security Treaty facilitating an increased US military footprint on Australia and enormous expenditures on so-called defence which in reality means arming our ADF for integration with the US armed forces and providing extensive facilities for US military operations in our country.
Facilities being provided to the US military include training facilities at the Bradshaw Training Range and Delamere bombing range in NT, accommodation for 2,500 US marines in Darwin each year, port facilities at HMAS Stirling in WA for US nuclear hunter-killer submarines with the government considering building an east coast port for the same purpose. RAAF Tindal in the NT is being upgraded to allow the stationing of up to six US B52 bombers, some of which are nuclear capable. US military officers are now embedded in our defence intelligence system, in a combined operation based in Canberra.
Billions of dollars have been given to US and UK shipyards to prop them up in the hope that will enable Australia to buy/build up to 8 nuclear hunter-killer submarines, which, if we get them at all, will inevitably be drawn into US wars. This is in addition to Pine Gap, the most important US military intelligence gathering facility outside the continental US, and the North-West Cape submarine communications station which, according to journalist Peter Cronau, was most probably the source of the firing command which resulted in a US submarine recently sinking an Iranian frigate with heavy loss of life.
Any realistic assessment of this US military build-up and expansion of bases, be they US or jointly operated, shows that, rather than enhancing our security, they have made Australia a certain target for retaliatory strikes in the event of war between the US and its numerous enemies.
The governments’ myopic, misplaced focus on military “security,” has resulted in other vital areas of human security being neglected and that includes fuel security, food security, health security, transportation security, climate security, shelter security, and communications security.
Successive governments’ failure to ensure that Australia has the internationally-recommended 90 days supply of fuel for the nation in case of disruptions to overseas supply is not due just to misplaced priorities but is clearly a dereliction of duty verging on incompetence.
In fact, they have allowed the level of storage to drop to one third of this recommended level. Successive governments have allowed this industry to remain in the ownership and therefore control of foreign corporations, mainly US. It has allowed them to operate with only one third of the recommended level of fuel security storage and even worse to close six of the eight refineries operating in Australia and instead, to rely on refineries overseas. Due to this dereliction of duty, transportation fuel for Australians is now vulnerable to shipping disruption due, for example, to war as is now happening with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In this case, the Australian government is supporting the illegal US/Israeli war on Iran which is responsible for the disruption.
The way forward is clear.
Short term, the Australian government must cease any involvement in the illegal US/Israeli war on Iran, recalling ADF personnel and equipment from the Middle East, close US access to Pine Gap and the N/W submarine communications station, and urge an end to hostilities and a return to the conference table to determine a blue print for peace and security for all the people in the Middle East.
Longer term, the Australian government must become involved in the energy supply industry. This, in order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, accelerate electrification of transportation including trucks and build enough publicly-owned fuel storage capacity and, if necessary, refining capacity, to ensure Australia meets the recommended 90 days of fuel security.
Our government must refocus its priorities away from contrived security threats and subservience to the US alliance and concentrate on our real security needs for fuel/energy, food, transportation, shelter, health, communications and the climate crisis.
IPAN
