'We want our land back and to stop the genocide': Gaza war shines new light on Australia's most secretive spy base

It was in mid-July when hundreds of activists gathered on the road leading up to the secretive military base in the heart of Australia.

They had arrived in the sleepy town of Alice Springs (Mparntwe) from across the country to demand the closure of a facility that has contributed to the historic dispossession of Indigenous Australians and is feared to be enabling the current displacement of Palestinians.

The US-led Pine Gap spy base has long been controversial in Australia. Since its establishment more than five decades ago, the facility has witnessed recurrent protests by activists opposed to the US military's presence and its occupation of land belonging to the Aboriginal Arrernte people.

But its presence has taken on a new significance since October 2023, when Israel began its genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip. Its activities remain shrouded in mystery, but it is believed to have played an important role in aiding the Israeli military in its destruction of the Palestinian enclave.

The three-day convergence, which took place on the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Pine Gap treaty, brought more than 600 pro-Palestine and anti-war activists, academics and politicians together with the Hayes family, the traditional custodians of the sacred land of Kuyunba.

The gathering culminated in hundreds marching to the base, chanting "From Arrernte to Gaza, Globalise the Intifada" and "Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land". At the gates, Arrernte Elder Felicity Hayes handed a letter to the local police chief asking for the land to be returned to its owners.

"We have every right to say we don't want this base here," Aunty Felicity told the inspector, before describing how her grandfather was taken advantage of to hand over the land without his consent.

Also among her requests was compensation for Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has killed and injured almost a quarter of a million people since it began its assault in October 2023.

"Close the base because what it's doing is destroying other people's countries," she said. "We want our land back and to stop the genocide."

Nathalie Farah, a spokesperson for the convergence, said the protest was the largest at the facility since 1987. Farah, a Syrian-Palestinian activist in the Anti-Militarism Action Network, was among 100 people who had driven for four days from Melbourne to attend the gathering.

"We're very conscious of the fact that we can't stop what's happening in Palestine from Australia, but Australia plays a significant role in the system and if it can be stopped that system won't be as effective," she told The New Arab.

July's convergence was the third major protest to be held on the road to the base since October 2023, and it is unlikely to be the last.

Anti-war groups, trade unions and pro-Palestine activists are planning to hold rallies and events in cities and towns across the country on 20 September to protest the US military alliance, Israel's war on Gaza, and Australia's participation in AUKUS, the security partnership with the US and UK.

"What needs to happen is we need to build a proper anti-war movement here similar to what happened on this continent during the Vietnam war," Farah said.

From Australia to Israel

Australia's strategic position close to the Indo-Pacific has made the country an important location for US overseas military operations. In all, the US military controls 17 facilities in the country and has access to 75 more Australian-owned installations, according to recent research by the Nautilus Institute, an Australian think tank.

Northern Australia is of particular focus to the Pentagon. The US has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into building new military infrastructure in the area since 2024, making it the top overseas location for Air Force and Navy construction spending.

Pine Gap has attracted particular scrutiny because of the lack of oversight afforded to Australia's elected officials and its status as one of the most important American intelligence facilities outside the US.

The base, known officially as the Joint Defence Space Research Facility, is jointly operated by Australia's military and several American spy agencies, but Australian authorities are largely kept in the dark about the US's intelligence activities.

Classified US documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) uses the facility to collect massive amounts of electronic signals and communication data. Intelligence is often used to identify military targets, including for drone strikes across the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Many suspect that Pine Gap has played a major role in the US's ongoing war on Iran, but the Australian government has remained tight-lipped.

The Snowden leaks also confirmed that Israel routinely receives intelligence from the NSA, with which it has eight intelligence-sharing agreements.

In 2023, investigative news site Declassified Australia published testimony from a former NSA employee who said that the base collects intelligence on Gaza.

"We know that signals intelligence data, captured by Pine Gap-controlled Orion satellites, has been historically made available to Israel," said Professor Richard Tanter, a senior research associate at the Nautilus Institute who is widely regarded as the country's leading expert on the base.

"Unless the Australian direct and indirect military relationship to Israeli activities in the Gaza Strip are closely reviewed by the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, it is not possible for the Australian government to assure the parliament and the Australian public that Australia is not complicit in acts of genocide," he added.

"The base's intelligence-sharing with the Israeli military has been one of the key ways that Australia has failed to uphold its obligations under the Genocide Convention," Jorgan Doyle, a spokesperson for the convergence, told The New Arab.

Doyle is an organiser for Mparntwe for Falastin, a local pro-Palestine group set up after 7 October 2023 that has staged fortnightly rallies on the road to the base and held frequent events and vigils in the town.

He described the Australian government's approach to the US military relationship as "don't ask, don't tell", which he says is particularly problematic given expectations that the country will soon host nuclear-capable American bombers.

The Tindal air base, located 1,000 kilometres north of Pine Gap, is being expanded by the US to host up to six B-52 bombers, which are expected to arrive by the end of the year.

Political backing

The campaign has attracted support from the Australian Greens, whose senators have called on the government to rethink its military alliance with Washington. Lawmakers in the left-wing party have been staunch critics of the Israeli military's actions in Gaza and have called for cutting trade ties with Israel and sanctions on ministers in the government.

The Greens, while still a minor party, are currently polling in fourth with around 15-16% of the vote and hold 10 seats in the 72-seat Senate.

"We don't want to be a part of the United States's forever wars," Senator David Shoebridge told The New Arab.

The New South Wales senator attended the convergence and plans to submit the Hayes family's letter for a debate in parliament later this year. Among the family's demands are the closure of the base, the return of the land to its traditional owners, and the payment of compensation to the dispossessed Arrernte people and families in Gaza.

"First Nations owners of the land on which Pine Gap sits have never given consent to the US presence, they don’t want their land contributing to US wars and the killing we can all see in places like Iran, Palestine and Venezuela," Shoebridge said.

"Australians are watching as the US becomes an agent of chaos, causing instability and violence in the world… For the first time since the Iraq war, we have a mass movement of people in Australia taking a clear stance against US war and our government's role in them."

The campaign against Pine Gap comes as polls show falling support for the US among the broader public amid the chaos of the Trump administration.

Successive surveys have shown that, while the military relationship remains popular, Australian voters are increasingly supportive of a more independent foreign policy and are less willing to trust the alliance with the US.

A poll by the Lowy Institute in June found that just 21% of Australians have confidence in the US president. Meanwhile, the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre found that a third of the public believe that the second Trump administration has been very bad for Australia, while almost four in 10 see the US as mostly harmful for Asia.

Doyle, of Mparntwe for Falastin, said the convergence happened at a "really interesting geopolitical moment" amid shifting public opinion.

"We increasingly hear ordinary Australians becoming uneasy about the US alliance and Australia's place in the world," he said.