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.