The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) is hosting its national conference over November 22–23 at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture in Barton, Canberra.
It will also launch its People’s Inquiry report into the impact of United States-influenced Australian militarism on First Nations peoples and broader society.
IPAN comprises community groups, trade unions and concerned citizens. It advocates a future without foreign military bases.
It was formed in 2011 after then-Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US President Barack Obama announced Australia would host US military forces in Darwin.
Included among IPAN’s goals is to push governments to play a positive role in solving international conflicts peacefully. To that end, the organisation is launching a new report in Parliament House.
IPAN, in conjunction with experts across several fields and the public, has developed a People’s Inquiry into the costs and consequences of Australia’s defence relationship with the US.
The inquiry, overseen by a panel of experts in eight key areas, received submissions from both experts and citizens on defence and growing militarism, law, foreign policy and human rights.
The inquiry report will be tabled during parliament by Western Australian Greens Senator Jordan Steele-John at 11am on November 24 following a rally on the lawns of Parliament.
The conference will feature panels discussing AUKUS and alternative defence policies, collaborative environmental and peace activism, as well as a panel exploring the inquiry’s findings.
Participating in the conference will be academics Emma Shortis, David Brophy and Vince Scappatura, former public servants Alison and Richard Broinowski, former Labor senator Margaret Reynolds, Greens candidate Tim Hollo, lawyer, human rights activist Kellie Tranter, John Shipton, and journalists Mary Kostakidis, Michelle Fahy and Peter Cronau.
Canberra-based choir, A Chorus of Women, will perform during a twilight lantern parade on November 23.
The events will be capped off by a march around the offices of various representatives of the military-industrial complex, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
[For more information and to register visit IPAN.]