Australia on Thursday rejected a proposal by a Washington-based think tank to base a nuclear aircraft carrier strike group on Australia's west coast as part of a shift of US military might to the Asia-Pacific region.

A Pentagon-commissioned report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on repositioning US forces in the region suggested relocating an aircraft carrier from the US East Coast to an Australian naval base south of the city of Perth.

But Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith said on Thursday that while negotiations were under way to increase US navy access to Australia's Indian Ocean base, HMAS Stirling, it would never become a US military base.