Alex Barwick: So, I've just had coffee with the head of security at Pine Gap and at the end of our conversation, he says to me, “Oh hey I've got something for you.”.
Alex Barwick (VO): I'm driving, almost on autopilot, through the familiar streets of my outback town because I can't quite believe what's just happened.
Alex Barwick: He said, “Hold out your hand”, and he shakes my hand and then transfers this large metal coin by tipping his hand over into mine.
Alex Barwick (VO): And with a big smile he says,
Alex Barwick: “Don't worry, it's not a listening device.”
Alex Barwick (VO): I'm Alex Barwick, and 16 years ago, when I rolled through the endless kilometres of emptiness towards Alice Springs/Mparntwe, I never imagined I'd be holding a coin, wondering whether the Australian Federal Police had just bugged me.
My town in the heart of Australia is a full of extremes; relentless heat through summer to frosty mornings in winter. And, while everyone knows everyone else's business there is this one thing people never talk about, 18ks south of town.
Pine Gap.
And when you ask?
Kim Beazley: As though I'm going to tell you (laughs).
Alex Barwick (VO): But I'm a journalist, and this secrecy is unnerving. What is this place?
Richard Tanter: Pine Gap is the most important spy base outside the United States.
Margaret Pestorius: We're here because this institution is killing people.
David Rosenberg: From my own perspective of being on the inside, Pine Gap's mission is a peaceful one.
Barbara Flick: And you've got these alien looking globes.
Philip Nitschke: It's kind of chilling. Out of this beauty comes this obscenity.
Des Nelson: Oh boy, you ain't heard nothing yet (laughs).
Alex Barwick (VO): What on earth is going on in my backyard?
Helen Kilgariff: It was a great little scandal in the town.
Russell Goldflam: Stories began to emerge that the CIA had had a role in Whitlam's downfall.
Kim Beazley: Oh, that's bull dust.
Jenny Taylor: I fully believe that it's involved in the drone attacks.
Female protesters singing: Pine Gap out of Australia, close Pine Gap. Pine Gap out of Australia, one struggle one fight, close Pine Gap.
Alex Barwick (VO): Why have thousands called for this place that never sleeps to be shut down?
Russell Goldflam: I didn't get any sleep. I was terrified. I thought, what if they've seen us, and they come and, you know, shoot us or something?
Jenny Taylor: She did scream and fight...
Alex Barwick (VO): And what I’m discovering is making me wonder if living here in Alice Springs, 18ks from one of the most secretive places in Australia, is putting my family and the town I love at risk.
Richard Tanter: Pine Gap is almost certainly a prime nuclear target in the event of major war.
Alex Barwick (VO): Built on a lie.
Archival news reporter: Officially, it's an experimental space station.
Alex Barwick (VO): On stolen land.
Barbara Flick: It's a killing machine on somebody else's land.
Alex Barwick (VO): Shrouded in secrecy.
Kim Beazley: You can't actually talk about most of this stuff if you're a person in my position.
Alex Barwick (VO): This is the story of Pine Gap.
Peter Cronau: Why are there secrets that we shouldn't know? What are they?
Alex Barwick (VO): That's what I want to find out.
What is happening at Pine Gap, this secretive base hidden by the ridgelines of Central Australia, on the fringe of my outback town?
Season three of the ABC's Expanse podcast: Spies in the Outback is coming soon.
Kim Beazley: Well done. Get stuck in.
Alex Barwick (VO): If you’re not already following the podcast, find Expanse and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.