Marles, you pathetic lackey - No more US military in Australia!
Written by: Nick G. on 4 September 2026
Meeting with US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, the pathetic chief lackey of US imperialism in Australia, Richard Marles, has further sold out our sovereignty by welcoming a greater US military presence in our country.
“…since we've come to government, you can see a through-line of growing American force in Australia, and we think that's really important,” Marles said.
Marles has agreed to increase the American military presence in Australia by "accelerat force posture initiatives at Australian bases".
“American force posture in Australia is growing. That’s across all the domains,” Marles told reporters. The “domains” are five in number: land, sea, air, cyber and space.
The Force Posture Agreement of 2014 permits the US to prepare for, launch and control its own military operations from Australian territory: “United States Forces and United States Contractors shall have unimpeded access to and use of Agreed Facilities and Areas for activities undertaken in connection with this Agreement.”
Addressing Hegseth, or “Pete” as he called him, Marles remarked that they were meeting on the 75th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, which he said “emanates from the Second World War, during which a million American service personnel used Australia as a base to project north…”
“And it's an example in the past of America's use of the Australian continent, which feels very pertinent today,” said Marles.
“America’s use of the Australian continent”? Who agreed to this today? We, the people, certainly did not.
According to media reports, Mr Marles also met with a number of the world's leading tech companies, headed by billionaires collectively labelled the “Nerd Reich” by author Gil Duran, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft and Google while visiting San Francisco.
The federal government has been pushing to build stronger links with top AI companies in the hope of attracting US investment into Australian-based data centres.
Treasury estimates suggest the construction of data centres in Australia to be worth about $150 billion by 2030. To whom are they worth such sums? Not to people unable to afford homes or food.
Data centres are attracting strong opposition from the American people and campaigns against them are growing here too.
But the sycophant in Marles can only welcome such developments.
It’s time to clear the Empire loyalists out of their positions of power.
No more US military in Australia!
For genuine anti-imperialist independence and socialism.
Print Version - new window Email article
-----
Go back
Independence from Imperialism
People's Rights & Liberties
Community and Environment
Marxism Today
International
Articles
| Marles, you pathetic lackey - No more US military in Australia! |
| Break the hold of the US on the Australian state |
| The Henderson warfare target |
| Race to colonise the Moon sees more space war planning |
| AI – the rush to a Royal Commission in SA |
| Party submission to AUKUS public inquiry |
| Oppose the extraterratoriality of NATO personnel in Australia. |
| Ask the question! |
| Labor’s AUKUS-trated Conference denies debate on key issues |
| Hundreds rally in Mparntwe to demand closure of US Pine Gap base. |
| Deep right-wing influence within Labor |
| Australian rightists and the 2026 Alliance for responsible Citizenship Conference |
| Army trains to protect AUKUS |
| 'Force projection' and the Indian Ocean: the role of Australia as a hub for 'US interests' |
| China announces regulations to protect its capitalists overseas. |
| EOS builds its own military-industrial complex |
| Australian data-centres to serve US Techint |
| Nationalise Australian Ports! |
| Imperialism's "Global Supply Chains" Exposed |
| Australia’s 2026 Defence Strategy: Last gasp of US empire loyalists? |
-----

