Defence chiefs back boosting US military presence in Australia

Pressed on what the expanding force posture would entail, Marles told journalists cooperation was also taking place in “logistics, cooperation, in respect of our air forces, cyber, and space”.

He said the expanding cooperation was a response to “the biggest conventional military build-up by any country in the world since the Second World War in the form of China”.

“We need to be ensuring that we build deterrence, that we build balance, so that we can provide for the peace and stability of the region in which we live,” he said.

“Collaboration through the alliance with the United States is fundamentally important to that.”

Among those areas of cooperation are US Marine Corps plans for a crisis-ready stockpile in Australia, AFP reported in June.

Australia has also embarked on its largest-ever military spending project to build nuclear-powered submarines next decade under the AUKUS agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom.

Critics have said the deal does not guarantee that Australia will ever receive the submarines.