A vibrant anti-war protest outside the Indian Ocean Defence and Security (IODS) Conference on July 24 attracted more than 100 people.
The protest was supported by Stop AUKUS WA, Friends of Palestine WA, Students for Palestine, Unionists for Palestine and Nuclear Free WA.
Sam Wainwright from Stop AUKUS WA told RTR FM radio on July 22 that the conference was part of a bipartisan push to make Australia a “major weapons manufacturer”, coupled with Australia falling in behind the US’ “pivot to Asia”, a term US strategists use to describe the planned military build-up in the region.
“These two things came together at this conference,” Wainwright said.
“Organisers are trying to help Australian businesses leverage off the massive defence expenditure coming down the line … AUKUS would be costing closer to $550 billion “and counting”.
Western Australia Greens Senator Derinda Cox and Hiba Farra from FOPWA addressed the protest as did Sophie McNeil, journalist and Greens candidate.
Among the conference’s sponsors are Babcock Australasia, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), L3 Harris, Thales and Navantia. All are implicated in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Babcock and HII, in partnership with Curtin University, is also helping “transform Australia’s submarine industrial landscape to position the nation to operate nuclear submarines”.
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Among the touted conference highlights is a session with AUKUS navy chiefs from the United States, Britain and Australia on the “safety of nuclear powered submarines” — an attempted justification of Labor’s $368 billion spend on nuclear-powered submarines.
Another protest is planned for July 25 at 12noon when Israeli weapons company Rafael Systems is promoting its “precision-strike technology”, responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. That protest is being organised by Students for Palestine WA.
[Get involved in Stop AUKUS WA.]
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