Mr Fraser, who was the prime minister between 1975 and 1983, gave a speech at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy on Monday evening to promote his new book, Dangerous Allies.

He said although he had expected Australia to distance itself from the US after the Cold War, if anything we were closer to the superpower than ever before.

"We've given more control over us to America than they would have had on earlier occasions," Mr Fraser said.

"The taskforce in Darwin, when fully equipped, it will be an immensely powerful taskforce capable of exercising force anywhere in the Pacific, and if the US wants to use that force they're not going to ask first; we'll read about it in the newspapers."

He said the changes at the Pine Gap satellite tracking station, which is in the Northern Territory and partly run by American agencies, were most concerning.

"Because of changed weapons technology Pine Gap, with other facilities, is integral to the firing of a number of weapons systems," Mr Fraser said.

He said the increasing closeness of Australia and the US was not due to any one poilcy or government, but was instead an ongoing trend. "Ever since 1991 we've become closer. It's partly been technology but also the policies of government," he said.

"I believed in the relationship during the Cold War but the contest has changed and we should recognise that."

ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre senior fellow Dr John Blaxland said the ramifications of ending the US-Australian alliance would be unfathomable for not just our country, but to the Asia-Pacific region.

"The world isn't either or, black or white, peace or war – it's shades of grey," he said.

"And my biggest concern is that the ramifications of a detachment from the US [to] Australia's interactions with Asian nations and the US's relationship with Asian nations are unfathomable."