Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows the arrival of US military personnel in central Queensland prior to the joint military training exercises held by the USA and Australia known as Operation Talisman Sabre 2005. A narrator describes the public relations exercise that took place to encourage goodwill, and members of the public view military hardware and the soldiers’ living quarters. Australian military personnel explain that environmental protection is built into all practices and procedures within the exercises. In radio and face-to-face interviews, community members express concern about experimental weapons and the use of depleted uranium (DU) during the exercises.

Educational value points

• The clip is an excerpt from Dirty War, a 2005 documentary about the possible impact of US joint-training bases in Australia on the Australian people and environment. In 2005 more than 6,000 Australian and 11,000 US military personnel participated in joint exercises in the Shoalwater Bay area of central Queensland, and this clip examines community concerns about possible environmental damage, and fears that experimental weapons may be harmful to local communities.

• 'Point-of-view’ documentaries are close in style to current affairs programs and present the view of the filmmaker. In this documentary, director Alan Carter employs techniques such as interviews with Australian defence force personnel and community members to present different perspectives on the issue of damage to sensitive Australian coastline environments. While the defence force personnel declare that all military exercises are safe and environmentally sustainable, it is clear that the filmmaker is sympathetic to community concerns about the possible contamination generated by military activities.

• ‘The Americans are coming’ refers to an agreement between the USA and Australia, signed in Washington in July 2004, to develop the three military training bases located in Australia. The three sites are the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in central Queensland and the Bradshaw Training Area and Delamere Air Weapons Range in the Northern Territory. The three facilities will also be linked to the Pacific War Fighting Centre in Hawaii. The Australian Government agreed that at these bases the USA could trial state-of-the-art technology that allowed commanders to oversee military exercises as they were being carried out, then replay these missions in debriefings to personnel.

• Shoalwater Bay is noted for its conservation and heritage values, as it includes one of Queensland’s few large estuarine systems with a relatively undisturbed catchment area. One of the largest tracts of undisturbed coastline in Australia, the area is a vast coastal wetland complex noted for its large array of wildlife species, including more than half of the known bird species in Australia. Threatened species such as the dugong, saltwater crocodile and various turtle species (green, loggerhead, hawksbill and flatback) can be found in the Bay and its estuaries. The catchments for Shoalwater Bay’s estuaries lie in the Training Area managed by the Department of Defence.

• A central platform of Australia’s defence policy is its alliance with the USA, formalised in 1951 with the signing of the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (the ANZUS Treaty). This military alliance was originally agreed on by Australia, New Zealand and the USA as a three-way security treaty on defence matters in the Pacific Ocean area following the Second World War. Since 1984 Australia and New Zealand have maintained a separate alliance as part of ANZUS. The US–Australian alliance continues and has been broadened to apply to attacks in any area. Australia and the USA continue to work together closely in the areas of intelligence, surveillance, capabilities and systems.

• The Australian Government has implemented a three-phase approach that it says will ensure appropriate environmental management of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. This approach includes consultation at local, state and national levels, research that focuses on the protection and monitoring of dugong habitat, and Environmental Impact Management that considers the location, scale and risk of potential military activities. However, the community concern expressed in this clip demonstrates a degree of mistrust and cynicism about the implementation of these measures.

• The 20-year agreement between the USA and Australia that was signed in 2004 allows the USA to test its new weaponry in Australia and to use Australian military bases, airfields and naval ports. The possible use of depleted uranium (DU) in a new generation of weapons is of special concern as the half-life of DU is 4.5 billion years. In addition, it has been linked to increased cancer rates in locations where DU weaponry has been used in the past, most notably in Puerto Rico and at the Clark Air Field in the Philippines.

• The filmmaker’s use of irony, exemplified by the use of US big band 'swing’ music and the mention of a 'charm offensive’ in relation to the welcome of the US forces, indicates that concerns about the consequences of the military exercises on the environment are at the heart of this documentary.

This clip starts approximately 41 minutes into the documentary.

This clip shows the arrival of US military personnel in central Queensland prior to the joint military training exercises held by the USA and Australia known as Operation Talisman Sabre 2005. A narrator describes the public relations exercise that took place to encourage goodwill, and members of the public view military hardware and the soldiers’ living quarters.
American soldier Three, two, one, coming across the ramp now.

Narrator The Americans are coming. In central Queensland, it’s just a few days out from the next round of joint exercises by the US and Australian forces.

American soldier G’day, mate.

Upbeat, jazzy music plays as we see US and Australian soldiers preparing for public relations exercises.
Narrator With the military in town, it’s time for a precision-planned charm offensive.

American soldier Electronic warfare monitors. Processes electronic signals.

American soldier Please follow me. We’ll be having dinner right now.

Australian soldier And we wanted to have all the families come out here, let the children get up close to the equipment and actually find out a little bit about how everything works.

Narrator It’s all about openness and transparency.

Australian soldier We have a flushing toilet, just like home.

Narrator And it’s an opportunity for a pre-emptive strike on the issue of the environment.

Australian soldier Basically has no impact on the environment, no matter where we go.

Australian soldier 2 We aim to conduct this exercise in an environmentally sustainable manner, and ah, within a safe environment. All our environmental objectives have been achieved. I’ve got environmentalists now continuing their movement across the range to ensure that everything is OK.

The music ends and the scene cuts to the coastline where locals are p launching small sailing boats.
Narrator It’s not all plain sailing. The US presence has also helped fuel the rumour mill.

We see Army helicopters in the sky and Army trucks driving down suburban roads before cutting to a scene of a father and son feeding seagulls near the water.
Reporter Some of our local politicians are backing calls to have Shoalwater Bay tested for radioactivity from past military exercises.

Male caller I’m not against the training in the area, but I want to make sure that they’re not using experimental weapons or anything like depleted uranium as part of the training regimen.

Female caller Testing toxic weapons in our backyard, and also poses the questions about what is the truth about depleted uranium.

Radio announcer We’re the beef capital of Australia. Can you imagine if some of our cattle inhales this DU if it is in the atmosphere?

We see cows in a pen and a family walking through green forest.
Woman I guess they – they feel concerned. Is there a chance that these depleted uranium weapons which they use in their conventional warfare could come in to be used in a training sense? If it was used on a northerly wind, there’s potential that (inaudible) would be one of the ones to get some of that residue. I’d be thinking I’d like to move, I think.

Narrator Well, there’s at least one man who could put an end to such worrying speculation.

We see the Australian flag flying above Parliament House, Canberra and cut to an interview with Senator Robert Hill, Australian Defence Minister.
Senator Robert Hill It certainly can’t be used in Shoalwater Bay.

Reporter Has it been used in the past at Shoalwater Bay or anywhere else in Australia?

Senator Robert Hill In Australia, um, I don’t know the answer to that. Not in my time.