This is an abridged version of a speech Isaac Nellist gave, on behalf of Socialist Alliance, against the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition, organised by the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition, on November 4.
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While millions of people are falling into poverty due to skyrocketing rents and house prices, alongside rising costs for everyday needs like groceries and energy bills, Labor is spending billions of our money on AUKUS.
We only have one pie — so it means those billions are not going to be spent on the housing and cost-of-living crises.
The Australian Council of Social Services has just told us in a new report that an incredible 3.7 million people are living in poverty, including a shocking 757,000 children.
This is in rich Australia!
At the last census, 120,000 people were homeless, including at least 38,000 who were in the category of being “long-term homeless”. There are about 170,000 households on the public housing waitlist, and millions struggle to get by every week.
These statistics represent a deep social crisis in the so-called “lucky country” — which no one in government is taking seriously. And they are only going to get worse while Labor continues to spend billions on refitting United States shipyards, helping the biggest weapons manufacturer and trader become even bigger.
The government must be forced to invest in housing, healthcare and raising welfare payments above the poverty line.
More than that, the AUKUS alliance entrenches Australia as a sub-imperialist power in the Indo Pacific. It makes it more likely that Australia will jump into more US-led imperialist wars in the region.
Australia is already the US’ deputy sheriff in the region, as you can see from the recent Bilateral Security Agreement it signed with Papua New Guinea.
In the name of “interoperability” and “defence”, PNG has agreed to Australia’s demands, in what defence minister Richard Marles described as “securing our northern flank”.
Australia’s relative wealth and power allow it to dominate, subdue and erode the sovereignty of our Pacific neighbours. Australian mining companies have extracted billions from copper and gold mines in PNG, leaving polluted rivers and barren pits behind.
Just as the US bolsters Israel to be its “unsinkable battleship” in the Middle East, Australia plays that role for the US in the Asia Pacific.
This is particularly important for the US as it prepares for any potential hot war with China.
Labor is not being dragged into this military alliance; there is, unfortunately, bipartisan support for it.
This will only change with a stronger anti-war movement that can challenge the war policies of both major parties.
Protesting this arms expo is important because it shows that there is significant opposition to Israeli weapons companies BAE Systems and Elbit Systems being here, marketing their weapons as being “battle-tested”.
The Department of Defence argue that these expos, where private weapons corporations have a chance to profiteer from genocide, are in our “national interest”. They are not.
As we can all see from the last two years, war and genocide is big business.
We need to continue to call out and protest these expos and keep building the anti-war movement, alongside the movement for decent, affordable housing because they are linked. Funnelling billions to AUKUS means nothing for public housing and other desperately needed services.
With the dangerous and unpredictable Donald Trump at the helm, we have to be ready to stop the next war before its starts — which is why we must also demand Labor take a stand against Trump’s bombing of fishing boats in international waters in the Caribbean.
Socialist Alliance supports cancelling AUKUS, including all its associated infrastructure, such as a new east coast base in Newcastle.
AUKUS strips away the chance at a better future for my generation and we’ll fight it all the way.
Money for health, money for homes. Not for missiles, bombs and drones.
[Isaac Nellist is an anti-poverty and affordable housing activist.]