AUSTRALIA
No to the war games
Kerry Smith, Sydney
17 May 2009
Protesters will again travel to Rockhampton to oppose the Talisman Sabre war games between the US and Australian military machines over July 10-13 — estimated to cost well over $100 million.
The war games will take place at sites of high cultural and environmental significance at Queensland’s Shoalwater Bay, near the Great Barrier Reef. They will be held on Aboriginal land — land that is home to many migratory birds and threatened species including the dugong and the loggerhead turtle.
Environmental impacts of the war games include noise pollution, waste, chemical spills, erosion from amphibian craft landings and weapon target zones and collisions with marine mammals.
Australia’s current military spending of $62 million a day steals the resources which should be funding human and social needs.
The protest organisers are calling on the Rudd government to cancel the war games.
“The war games are intended to train Australian military personnel to take US military orders” said Denis Doherty of the Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition.
“They are designed to practise aggression and offensive military strategies, not to defend Australia or protect its people. It is time for Australia to cancel the Talisman Sabre military exercises, cut the overblown military budget, pull our soldiers out of Afghanistan, and develop an independent foreign and defence policy.”
[For more information on travel and accommodation, upcoming film showings and other related matters, contact the Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition on 0418 290 663, or email < denis@anti-A HREF="mailto:bases.org"><bases.org>.]
