New South Wales Premier Chris Minns was up early on November 4, spruiking Labor’s sponsorship of a three-day arms trade fair in Darling Harbour on ABC Radio National.
But when asked about Israeli weapons’ companies’ sponsorship, such as Elbit Systems which makes F-35 bombers responsible for such enormous carnage in Gaza, he ducked for cover.
“I’m not responsible for the invitations,” he said, before going to enthuse about the $3.4 billion “defence” exports bring in to the NSW economy.
Yaakhov Aharon told a protest against the Indo-Pacific Arms Expo that Labor has “no excuses” for continuing to support metal shops making critical parts for Israel’s genocide.
Aharon, representing Wollongong Against War and Nukes, said Bisalloy Steel, which manufacturers armoured steel for military use and exports to Israel, “also has contracts to build AUKUS subs and frigates for Australia’s Navy”.
Aharon said former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who attended the Expo, and his wife, hold $13 million in Bisalloy shares. Coalition MP Dave Sharma and “several Israel lobby bosses” also have shares, he told the Sydney Anti-AUKUS protest.
“As Australia’s only manufacturer of high-strength quenched and tempered steels, Bisalloy’s role in the global arms trade is almost irreplaceable, Aharon said. “This means that if a tank or sub is entirely Australian made, then Bisalloy is almost certainly part of the supply line.”
Governments know what they are doing, the anti-Zionist Jewish activist said, adding that “disrupting Bisalloy means less armour for Israel and that could mean one less armoured IDF vehicle in Gaza” and “saving lives in Gaza right now”.
Aharon was one of several anti-war and justice speakers at a protest organised by Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition, which had been denied access to the forecourt area, outside the ICC. Also denied access were about 200 protesters, organised by Students for Palestine, who had sought to blockade the event.
Despite two years of genocide, and warning from US commissioner and human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti that Israeli companies exhibiting at the expo could be a breach of Australia’s obligations under the Genocide Convention, people were infuriated the expo was given special treatment.
But the special undemocratic anti-protest rules covering Darling Harbour meant that NSW Police were able to push people to a “designated” park nearby. They still pepper sprayed people inside that area, causing injury to those who did not manage to get out of the way, as well as those downstream of the wind, some 50 metres away.
Between 10–13 people were arrested and, at the time of writing, some had been released without charge.
SAAC sought to talk up peoples’ concerns and link Australia’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza with its military alliance with the US.
Greens MLC Sue Higginson, who addressed the protest, focused on this, calling out NSW Labor for its profiteering from the genocide in Gaza.
“To think that the Minns is talking about this expo and these corporations that profit from weapons of mass destruction is some kind of future industry for NSW is absolutely wrong.”
Shane Reside, Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Sydney branch organiser, said MUA members would not load weapons on ships bound for Israel.
Marcus Strom, from Labor Against War, condemned the government for what he said were a departure from “labour values”, adding that arms expos “further tie us into Donald Trump’s vision of the world where might is right and law be damned”.
Denis Doherty, from the Communist Party of Australia, said “the companies that are on display are the enablers of genocide … they have sold the weapons to the assassins of ordinary Gazans, of doctors, aid workers and journalists.”
Lilly Barto, a direct action organiser and agitator for Wage Peace, read a poem inspired by her work defending activists. She condemned Labor’s support for former Coalition defence minister Christopher Pyne’s dream of setting Australia on a path to become one of the top 10 weapons manufacturers in the world.
Australia sits at around number 13 of the top spenders on weapons for capita population, down from 21 when Pyne was minister.
Isaac Nellist, from Socialist Alliance, said while Australia is a rich country, but the cost of living and housing crises showed “it is in a deep social crisis which the government is not taking seriously”.
“These figures are only going to get worse while Labor continues to send billions of our tax payer dollars to US shipyards to help the US – already the biggest weapons manufacturer and trader.” He said the billions must be redirected to “where it is urgently needed”, including raising welfare payments above the poverty line.
[Pip Hinman is an activist in the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition.]
