In 1952, the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act which made it an offence to enter, without government approval, a place used for a special defence undertaking. Such an undertaking was defined as one for the defence of Australia or 'some other country associated with Australia in resisting or preparing to resist international aggression'.
A convicted person could be sent to jail for up to seven years. Before Philip Ruddock became Attorney-General no one had ever been charged under this law.
In 1966 the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap outside Alice Springs was established under an agreement between the Australian and US governments. It is a ground control and processing station for satellites collecting signals intelligence around the globe. It is probably classifiable as a 'special defence undertaking'.
At various times, Australian citizens have travelled to central Australia and protested the presence of this US base on Australian soil. When arrested and charged, these protesters have been dealt with by an Alice Springs magistrate for lesser offences such as trespass and wilful damage to property. Rarely, if ever, have the protesters received prison terms. They have been fined or put on good behaviour bonds and urged to go back south.
In 1998, the Howard Government had to renew the Pine Gap agreement. By then, unlike in 1952, there was a law requiring the Parliament to consider the terms of any international agreement. Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties reported on the unsatisfactory situation with the Pine Gap treaty.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle reported that 'the Department of Defence has sought to limit unnecessarily the information provided to us about the purpose and operation of the Joint Defence Facility to less than is already available on the public record; and to deny the Treaties Committee access to the Joint Defence Facility while at the same time acquiescing in the right of certain members of the US Congress to visit the Facility'.
Those protesting the Iraq War and Australia's participation in the Coalition of the Willing had good grounds for claiming that Pine Gap was integral to the US war effort.
On 9 December 2005 four Christian peace activists including Donna Mulhearn, who had travelled to Baghdad as one of the human shields decried by Alexander Downer, succeeded in breaking through the security fence at Pine Gap to