No free speech near Australian spy base

Australian Catholic Worker Ciaron O’Reilly speaks at the gates of Pine Gap Oct 7th 06.

Australia: Rudd government attacks right to protest at Pine Gap spy base

20 March 2009

Without any publicity or public debate, the Rudd government has pushed through parliament a law to step up the protection of the joint US-Australian military spy base at Pine Gap in central Australia, ensuring that protesters will face up to seven years’ jail if they go near or even photograph the facility.

Remembering Pine Gap: Women’s Peace Camp, November 1983 An exhibition from the archives of Jesse Street National Women’s Library NSW Parliament House, Sydney Until September 24: here.

US spy bases in Australia central to war plans against China: here.

A political controversy unfolded in Australia yesterday over whether the United States plans to base long-range B1 bombers in the country as part of the US “pivot” and military build-up in Asia against China. The episode highlights two facts. Firstly, the preparations for war by the US and its allies are far more advanced than is known by masses of people. Secondly, governments, the military and the establishment media will shamelessly lie in order to keep the working class in the dark about the immense dangers that it confronts: here.