[Greens-Media] NT Greens submission to Defence White Paper consultations.

[Convenor, NT Greens]

*NT Greens are pleased to respond to the Defence White Paper's question:
Are Defence’s policy settings current and accurate?*



The NT Greens are a political party with policies and positions based on
the principles of grassroots democracy, peace and non-violence, and social
and environmental justice. We support a Defence Force that is focused on
the defence of Australia, and the development of useful relationships in
our region that can be the basis for future peace.



NT Greens recommend two specific priority changes to Australia's defence
settings.



First, Australia should audit our defence strategy and foreign policy to
ensure that, at every juncture, these remain consistent with Australian
ambitions for a world free of nuclear weapons. Australia should disavow any
reliance on the USA's nuclear weapons program; we should end uranium
exports to nuclear weapons states that refuse to sign on to or make
progress towards the objectives of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We
should resume a leadership role in developing and enacting further
international agreements against weapons development and towards total
global nuclear disarmament.



Secondly, Australia should not tolerate the presence of foreign war bases.
While acknowledging the strong friendship Australia enjoys with the USA, NT
Greens insist that establishing USA military bases in the NT – irrespective
of semantics of co-location and personnel rotation – illustrates that our
military alliance with the USA is out of balance. Australia should not be
ready to make a blood down-payment on that alliance whenever the USA goes
to war, in order to build an expectation that the USA will back us with
their nuclear weapons if ever needed. Instead, Australia should have a
defence force focused on defending Australia. We should only go to war when
it is directly in our national interest, and our strategy should entirely
reject any resort to nuclear weapons of mass destruction.



Australia's relationship with the USA should be strong enough to allow both
countries to enjoy some form of military alliance, without our endorsement
of their nuclear weapons program, and without tolerating the presence of
foreign bases on Australian soil.



Sincerely,



Owen Gale,

Convenor, NT Greens.