In November 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and President Barack Obama announced plans for annual deployment of a US Marine Rotational Force to Darwin and US Air Force aircraft to Australian bases in the Northern Territory, commencing in April 2012. What do the governments of other US allies, including Hungary, Norway, the Philippines, and the former puppet government of Afghanistan, possess that Australian governments do not? The answer is a conception of genuine sovereignty, and obligations to transparency that are foreign to Australian governments, particularly the incumbent Albanese government.
