“The shift which we need to see is from viewing AUKUS as defence policy, to viewing it as nation-building policy – or even economic future-proofing policy,” Bran Black, Business Council of Australia CEO, was quoted as saying at the end of an article about this continent becoming a “central base” of US military operations in the Indo Pacific.

The main thrust of the piece in the Weekend Australian was an exclusive conversation that the Murdoch press had with US Republican congressman Michael McCaul, who waxed lyrical about the opportunities that the tearing down of military trade barriers that the Albanese government has recently partaken in brings in terms of a deterrence upon China and the lead up to World War III.

Indeed, during his 10-day visit to this country, McCaul, the chair of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs announced that the Biden administration had granted defence trade exemptions from the US for us, which means it has relaxed its International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) red tape.

“I am pleased the administration has finally provided the long overdue defence trade exemption to two of our closest allies, Australia” and the UK, a 15 August statement outlines. But the US politician then laments that the reforms have not completely abolished “big government regulation”, which will continue to “hamper” deterrence capabilities in the Indo Pacific.

“Darwin is the… epicentre of the organisation projecting power through the South China Sea to China,” McCaul told Sky News, following a visit to the Northern Territory capital last week. “And getting these alliances there sends a very strong message to Chairman Xi, that the risk outweighs the reward.”

Australia is prioritising autonomous military technology, information warfare and quantum computing in the secretive second phase of the AUKUS pact.

Details of the second pillar – on top of Australia’s $368bn commitment to acquire nuclear submarines – have been closely held since the pact was unveiled more than two years ago.

But officials have been meeting in working groups across technologies including artificial intelligence, hypersonic missiles and advanced cyber, which Prof Munro said had been a “forcing function for winnowing down what we do” to meet frontline security needs.

Speaking at the Center for a New American Security last month, she suggested Australia was focused on autonomous technology, automated intelligence and information warfare tools, and the “very significant disruption coming” through quantum.

The Prime Minister is due to arrive in the US on Monday for a four-day trip including a prestigious state dinner at the White House.

Australia’s navy is set to be armed more than 200 Tomahawk missiles amid concerns over China’s growing military presence in the region.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy will on Monday announce a $1.7bn investment in new, hi-tech missiles to expand the strike power of the Australian Defence Force.

The purchase comes off the back of the recommendations made in the defence strategic review to urgently beef-up the ADF’s medium-range advanced and high-speed missile defence capabilities.

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles are long-range guided missiles and have a range of up to 1500km.

The central question now is whether the US build-up is transforming Australia into a base for offensive US operations into Asia.

A greater presence of American forces brings with it the “need for mutual respect of rights and obligations”. It will be for Canberra now to outline how freedom of policy manoeuvre is not constrained. This is no straw man argument. It cuts to the very core of Australia’s ability to act independently, particularly if at some future point US and Australian interests do not align.

The change from the mid-1990s has been nothing short of staggering.

British soldiers based in Australia could be part of the next step to bringing the two military forces closer together.

UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said stationing British troops in Darwin, where US marines have a presence, was "not impossible" as his nation looked to expand its influence in the Pacific.

"It comes up quite regularly in conversation about what the Aussies and the US are doing up there and whether we should be there too," he said.

The minister said the UK was still in a discovery phase in the Pacific and military deployments to Australia were a better option than basing British troops on more contested territories in the region. He said the UK was working careful to expand its presence in the Pacific with concerns moving too fast or being too heavy handed might do more harm than good by alienating partner nations.