@monman12 wrote:
I do wonder what anti-Maccas people would have thought of John Curtin's decision to invite the Americans to use Australia as their Pacific base.
Probably no different to what they thought of this:
Up to 2,500 US Marines will be stationed in Australia by 2017 under a new agreement announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US president Barack Obama.
Ms Gillard confirmed the deployment during a joint press conference with Mr Obama only hours after he touched down in Canberra on his whirlwind visit.
She says 200 to 250 Marines will be stationed in Darwin for training from next year, with numbers building up to 2,500 over the next five years.
"It is a new agreement to expand the existing collaboration between the Australian Defence Force and the US Marine Corps and the US Air Force," she said.
Our alliance has been a bedrock of stability in our region, so building on the alliance through this new initiative is about stability.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard
"What this means in very practical detail is from mid-2012 Australia will welcome a company-sized rotation of 200 to 250 Marines in the Northern Territory for around six months at a time.
"Over a number of years we intend to build on this in a staged way."
The US Air Force will also be given more access to Australian bombing ranges and training facilities in remote areas of the Northern Territory.
The announcement by the two leaders comes as Australia and the US mark the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance, the central security agreement between the two countries.
Click here for whole article: Obama Visit 2011
