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Foreign military based in Australia

−2 from 2023

In 2026, 55% of Australians were in favour of the United States basing military forces in Australia.

Question Foreign military based in Australia

Are you personally in favour or against Australia allowing the United States to base military forces here in Australia?

  1. 0%
  2. 20%
  3. 40%
Somewhat in favour
35
Somewhat against
24
Strongly in favour
20
Strongly against
19

In 2022, respondents were also asked if they were in favour or against Australia allowing the UK to base military forces in Australia.

Total
All groups

2026 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 (55%) say they are either ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ in favour of allowing the United States to base military forces in Australia, down eight points from 2022 (63%).

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