US planned to fire missile at Australia, secret Cabinet papers from 1980s reveal

Lets not forget the British and American nuclear experiments committed on Australian soil in the 1950s in South Australia. I've lost count how many Australians and New Zealanders had died of cancer through the radiation exposure, how many children were born of physical defects etc.

Perhaps I am odd, but the pre-test secrecy isn't what bothers me on this. What really grabs my attention is the lack of any talk for EVER being open about it. Had these tests happened, just what line of garbage were we to be fed in America and all of you in Australia when someone noticed a Nuclear Missile launching on this end..and someone possibly seeing a large object coming down into the water down there?

Of course it wouldn't be armed or even a real warhead, but that isn't the point. We just HAD a mystery missile go flying off the U.S. West Coast, just off our shore not that long ago...and I still haven't heard a logical explanation of what it was or where it went. Plenty of people saying it was nothing or it wasn't what it looked like..but that doesn't make for an explanation. So.... Back then? Current Day? Seems to me, the direction of the launch changed..but that is about it.

Well Australia..We're lost up here. It's too late to bring openness and honesty from our national leadership. Perhaps you'll have better luck down there. Whatever the needs for pre-test secrecy, the fact it was just going to apparently stay secret without limits is wrong and contrary to everything our two societies stand for (as I understand Australian society to be in values held). Sounds like a few nations need a Grand Flush of their political leadership.

Originally posted by daaskapital

As an Australian, i myself am not surprised at the fact that an Australian Prime Minister at the time secretly agreed for the US to test new missiles close to the country's border, but i am a bit concerned. First and foremost, this was in the 80's, i can only imagine what type of crap noth the US and Australia are agreeing to now.

www.news.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 31-12-2011 by daaskapital because: (no reason given)

No kidding, and i'm an american. At least the missle didn't harm anyone (that we know of) and thankfully it was just testing a ballistic missle. It might have been an early prototype of cruise missle.

As an American I would like to apologize to the Aussie's on this one. I'm sorry my country would even consider doing something like that.. I hope you understand it is the greedy rich and not your average citizen.

Originally posted by bussoboy
It is not for these powerful organisations to determine what Australians can and should know, it is for us to make that decision.

Really? How do you forget something after knowing something and then deciding you should not know it? Perhaps you mean there should be no official secrets whatsoever and everything including defence should be publicly available knowledge?

The present (sic) government allows Chinese financed cowboys to take over Farmland and drill for gas via the Fracking process, which poisons our water tables.

This ios high treason against a people.

But money under the table...speaks louder than virtue from within a human heart.

Poisoned water..that cannot be drank for centuries...and we fret about blank missiles from the past?

We are burning Australia by Fracking, but instead of it being checked its being endorsed.

Originally posted by tauristercus

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
Such agreements are made regularly to test defences i'm sure
There's not really anything wrong with it except for it being under the rug

Truth is not many would accept it even though it may be quite normal
But then again people do nothing for real corruption everyday

just saying
I wouldn't call this huge news

Perhaps you could refresh MY memory on the last time the US agreed to let us here in Australia test fire OUR missiles against their US west coast ... I seem to have forgotten that agreement.

It wasn't made public, elections issues.

To be serious for a minute, I'd be more concerned about the boots on the ground that were recently announced.

reply to post by daaskapital


Many have said it before but the best hidden which is scary. A lot say Sydney is illuminati hq. Man this crap does not surprise me one bit. What scares me the most is the fact they could put anything in the warhead from nuclear to viral. Make it some type of accident.

reply to post by Observor


There are key flaws in a phrase which associates the words "representative" and "democracy" in this scenario. Democracy boils down to the people having the right to select a representative, rather than be dictated to by a conqueror,tyrant, or monarch. There is NO exclusive implication within that simple description, which allows a representative of a group of people to act without thier permission, or to obsfucate from the people, items of interest which may affect thier decision to re-elect that representative.

When such things are hidden for reasons of maintaining national security, that is one thing (although that term has been abused so much that it barely holds weight any more), but keeping secrets from the people must ONLY be used in that manner, if at all. The very moment a choice is made to hide the actions of a leader from the people, for reasons which fall outside the remit of national security concerns, something has gone awfuly pear shaped to say the very least of the matter.

As you say, missile defence systems tests are routine, and most nations co-operate with others where these things are concerned, mostly because to test these weapons deployment systems at thier range limits demands that they pass through national borders and airspace by definition. Therefore keeping this test a closely guarded secret is meaningless. Just another test, just another day at the office. Therefore NOT a legitimate target for redaction and secrecy.

Again, it is the STATED REASON given for the secrecy which is unacceptable, not the fact of the secret being kept which makes me sick.

Just as an aside. Any politician who operates in a democracy in anything other than a transparent and above board manner, and considers himself a mover and shaker, a player, a serious entity, is deluding himself about how well he is doing his job. Politicians in democratic states ARE state employees, and nothing more than that. Yes, when I say employee I mean the Government. They are one and the same, public servants, of no more (and often less) skill or importance than your average post office janitor, parks attendant, or social services operative. The only difference is, that we elect these people.

Democracy is supposed to be more than a choice over who screws you next, and with what. If we are to merely accept the sort of misjudgement that allows a secret to be kept which could affect the popularity of a nations leader, in a democratic nation, then the choice really WILL reduce down to who screws you next! That is an unacceptable scenario no matter how you excuse it.