Observation
In 2011, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former US President Barack Obama announced the rotation of US marines through Darwin, a deployment that has continued and expanded since then.
In April 2023, as part of the AUKUS submarine decision, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden announced that one UK and up to four US nuclear-powered submarines would rotate through the HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia.
This year, over half of Australians (57%) say they are either ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ in favour of allowing the United States to base military forces in Australia, down six points from 2022 (63%).