Extract from today's Australian::

A HIGH-security explosives factory and munitions-loading wharf is being considered by the Defence Department as it finalises plans for a joint military training facility for Australian and US troops.

In a move likely to fuel speculation the US will eventually use Australia as a military staging post, the Australian Defence Force is eyeing sites in Queensland and the Northern Territory to complement existing facilities at Twofold Bay in NSW.

The "joint combined training centre" was put on the agenda last year and became a key item of discussion at AusMin, the annual bilateral meeting between US and Australian cabinet ministers and officials, held recently in Adelaide, where a memorandum of understanding was signed.

Defence has proposed several infrastructure upgrades for central Queensland's Shoalwater Bay Training Area -- yet to be approved by federal cabinet.

Shoalwater Bay would be the focal point for any exercises conducted through the JCTC, including the next Exercise Talisman-Sabre expected to involve tens of thousands of troops in 2007.