Holding placards and banners in the red dirt and dry scrub along the road to Pine Gap, about 100 Alice Springs residents have called for the facility’s closure and the return of land to traditional owners.

A day after their regular Sunday protest, Mparntwe for Palestine described the Prime Minister’s decision to formally recognise Palestine in September as “performative”. 

Pine Gap models

A model of Pine Gap sat alongside the road into the intelligence facility. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)

“‘Recognising’ Palestine does nothing to advance Palestinian liberation or bring this genocide closer to ending,” the group said in a statement. 

Protesters said they held ongoing concerns that intelligence gathered on Australian soil may be being used by Israel in its attacks on Gaza.

“The machinery of war on Arrernte country supports the Israeli military as it bombs hospitals, murders journalists, starves children and civilians and erases entire neighbourhoods,” a statement read at the protest said.

The group has been protesting along the road to the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap since Hamas attacked Israel back in October of 2023.

Israel has maintained its response is justified under international law. 

A group of people block the road with pro-Palestine signs. Three people are sitting on the road by an oil drum.

Protesters blocked access to the Pine Gap US military facility outside Alice Springs on November 27. (ABC News: Alex Barwick)

Partnership with traditional owners

With the permission of traditional owners, the demonstrators stood metres from Pine Gap’s perimeter fence line, at the turn-off to an Arrernte sacred site that shares its border with Pine Gap.

“We are standing in solidarity today as First Nations people. This base, Pine Gap, is on Arrernte country, it’s been here for a very long time now,” the group said.

Yankunytjatjara woman Karina Lester grew up in Alice Springs and said she was worried Pine Gap made the region a nuclear target.

A woman in a park talking to cameras

Yankunytjatjara woman Karina Lester is an ambassador for the International Coalition for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons.

 

“There’s a huge risk to the township of Mparntwe and to us smaller communities that live around the area. There is a target on the back of this Pine Gap,” she said.

Eastern Arrernte elder Sylvia Neale, 81, said she was tired of speaking up.

“I think I am exhausted, as every day goes past and something else happens relating to Gaza,” she said.

An Indigenous woman sits to the right of a non-Aboriginal woman

Eastern Arrernte elder Sylvia Neale says she is exhausted by speaking out over so many years.  (ABC News: Xavier Martin)

Almost six decades of secrecy

Pine Gap, located in a secluded valley 18 kilometres south of Alice Springs, was set up by the CIA

It began operating in 1970 in response to the Cold War.

Its size and capabilities have expanded over the years, drawing Australia into countless wars. 

Jenny Taylor first protested at the Pine Gap gates more than 40 years ago as part of the huge women’s peace camp in 1983. 

“I feel terrible grief about it and that’s why I am here today. It just feels like a nightmare that we can’t wake up from,” she said.A women wearing a blue jacket and a hat looks stern.

Alice Springs resident Jenny Taylor first protested ‘the base’ as part of the huge Women’s Peace camp in 1983.   (ABC News: Alex Barwick)

Ms Taylor said she was pleased to see younger people take up the mantle.

“It’s incredibly heartening, I just love the energy that the young people have and their group Mparntwe for Palestine, they’re just beautifully organised and thoughtful.”    

Police at Pine Gap protest

NT Police and Australian Federal Police on the road into Pine Gap. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)

Secrecy and surveillance

An Australian Federal Police drone hovered above Sunday’s protest, and organiser Jorgen, who did not supply his name, said there had been a noticeable increase in surveillance.

“I noticed at the turn-off to Pine Gap there is now a big camera there that wasn’t there a few weeks ago,” he said.

Greens Senator and spokesperson for defence David Shoebridge said the Australian government was in the dark about how Pine Gap’s intelligence was used, but was nonetheless complicit.

“It’s a question of look away and pretend that international law is being upheld or that our moral standards are being upheld,” he said.

A man with glasses wearing a light pink collared shirt and blue suit jacket stands in a courtyard with a green garden.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge is the party’s defence spokesperson. (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)

Senator Shoebridge had planned to attend Sunday’s rally in Alice Springs but was unable to travel due to sickness.

Secrecy important for national security

ANU national security and defence expert Jennifer Parker said Australia would know exactly which countries Pine Gap was collecting intelligence from, but admitted the detail on use was likely to be less clear.

“What the US does with that information and intelligence afterwards, that may be difficult for the Australian government to verify,” Ms Parker said.

“We do know that the US shares some intelligence with Israel.” 

However, she believed it was unlikely Pine Gap would be focused on the Middle East. 

“Given that US and Australian personnel are not on the ground in Gaza, I would say it’s unlikely that that is a top priority for collection,” she said.

The Department of Defence said in a statement it would not comment.

“In accordance with longstanding practice by successive governments, Defence does not comment on the operation of its joint facilities, including Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap,” it said.

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