Tensions continue to grow in the South China Sea between the United States and China. But there’s tensions closer to home as well. On the Aboriginal-owned Tiwi Islands, Traditional Owners are increasingly concerned plans are afoot to bring the full might of the United States military into their pristine backyard. A massive port recently constructed on the island – without any environmental approval – is at the centre of the angst. Thom Mitchell continues his ongoing investigation into the Tiwi Islands port.

with the Chinese now controlling port Darwin, the rumour about USA marines at Port Melville are growing louder..

Defence was asked about any sensitivities over Darwin's China port deal, the NT Government says.

Defence was consulted prior to the deal being sealed, after a NT parliamentary committee noted the strategic position of the port and warned no foreign investment should occur that threatened the country's security interests.

While a Federal Government spokesperson said Defence secured a 15-year access agreement to the port in anticipation of the lease occurring - they also said it was spending millions of dollars on an alternative barge facility in Darwin.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), which is against the deal, has labelled the lease a strategic worry for the Top End, which plays host to a large Australian Defence presence and yearly rotations of USA Marines.

The USA Chief of naval operations, Admiral Greenert, when he was in Australia last year clearly identified port infrastructure needs in Darwin as a critical element to the growth of 'cooperation' in Darwin.

Parliament has approved an $18 million project to build a barge facility at a site adjacent to the Darwin port that will be capable of loading and unloading giant amphibious naval ships at short notice.

A man is cut out of a ute after it crashes with a USA Marines vehicle in Katherine in the NT.

Police said the crash happened at 1:45pm at the junction of the Victoria and Stuart highways.

The 34-year-old man was trapped in the ute for about 45 minutes while emergency services diverted traffic and attempted to free him from the wreckage.

Police told the ABC the man has been taken to Katherine Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The six-wheel off-road truck is called a Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement - a vehicle used by the USA Marines to haul equipment and troops.

AUSTRALIAN and American environmental specialists were cleaning up a suspected fuel spill at a popular Darwin beach on Wednesday.

The ADF and Marines were notified of a marine fuel spill on Casuarina Beach, off Lee Point on Tuesday.

Results of sand quality testing revealed an area about 20m long and 10m wide that may have been contaminated in a spill which occurred during an amphibious offload as a part of Exercise Talisman Sabre — Australia’s largest combined military exercise, which runs through until July 21.

A spokesman said the ADF had “notified all appropriate government agencies”.

“The ADF’s environmental team took immediate steps to cordon the area and began to assess the extent of the incident,” he said.

It’s not known what caused the spill.

"It’s not known what caused the spill" - you don't think it might have been that big old Landing Craft that kept coming up onto the sand?

AUS­TRALIAN, Amer­i­can and Japanese troops will storm the beach to­day at Fog Bay, just west of Dar­win.

Dig­gers from the 2nd Bat­tal­ion will test Aus­tralia’s abil­ity to mount a full-blown am­phibi­ous as­sault as part of north Aus­tralia’s Ex­er­cise Tal­is­man Sabre, which in­volves 30,000 sol­diers, marines, sailors and fly­ers from Australia, the USA, New Zealand and Ja­pan.

The test will not only in­volve a success­ful land­ing and as­sault, but also the abil­ity to op­er­ate seam­lessly with a mas­sive force of USA Marines and their vast ar­ray of equip­ment that in­cludes huge hov­er­craft, Har­rier jump jets, Osprey ver­ti­cal take­off air­craft and am­phibi­ous land­ing craft that emerge from the wa­ter like sub­marines with wheels.

The 2nd Bat­tallion has be­come the na­tion’s first truly am­phibi­ous force and while they are not tech­ni­cally Marines the sol­diers are train­ing to spend months at a time on board one of the navy’s three new am­phibi­ous ships.

note: the aussies do still recognise they are not technically working for a foreign military.