Spy planes to patrol Australia
Spy planes to patrol Australia
Michelle Nichols, Reuters/Wentworth, Australia
Unmanned spy planes will patrol Australia's remote offshore oil and gas resources and rail networks will have extra security under new campaign pledges made on Thursday ahead of the Oct. 9 election.
National security and the U.S.-led war on Iraq have become important election issues since last week's deadly car bombing outside Australia's embassy in Jakarta and an unconfirmed report that two Australians had been taken hostage in Iraq.
Defense Minister Robert Hill said Australia would test two unmanned aircraft in the next year before deciding on a model to watch over Australia's multi-billion dollar oil and gas reserves off its vast northwest coast.
"We have identified our oil infrastructure on the North West Shelf as a national strategic asset, which obviously we seek to protect with whatever capability we have," Hill said.
He said Australia was looking at two models which could stay in the air for up to 30 hours.
Conservative Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch U.S. ally, later announced an A$85 million (US$59 million) plan to add two new navy patrol boats to an existing order for 12 boats, with the two new craft to patrol the North West Shelf.
The Woodside Petroleum Ltd.-operated North West Shelf joint venture off Western Australia state is underpinned by long-term contracts to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan.
The joint venture also has a A$25 billion agreement to supply LNG to energy-hungry China from 2006. More than 11 million tonnes of North West Shelf LNG is contracted each year to Japan, the world's biggest LNG importer.
Opposition Labor defense spokesman Kim Beazley said the government should expedite the unmanned aircraft trials and then go one step further by having the drones armed.
Australia's election has attracted international attention because it precedes two others likely to be fought largely on the issues of security and the Iraq war -- the U.S. presidential vote on Nov. 2 and a British election expected in May or June.
Center-left Labor, which has clashed with Howard's government over Australia's role in the war, said it would invest A$30 million (US$21 million) in upgrading security at rail networks if it wins office.
"We have seen incidents overseas where transport networks can be targeted in the war against terror and we need to ensure they are as safe as possible," said Labor leader Mark Latham, whose party is polling neck-and-neck with the government.
Experts estimate that almost one-third of all major terrorist events worldwide target transport networks, he told reporters.
Latham has said that, if he wins office, the 850 Australian troops in and around Iraq would be brought home by Christmas. Howard is adamant they will remain as long as they are needed.