Two large protests, as well as a number of smaller actions, demanding that AUKUS be scrapped and communities and climate action be funded greeted delegates outside the Labor’s national conference over July 23-25.
Both rallies featured a giant nine-metre inflatable submarine, handmade by the Port Adelaide Artists Forum. Palestine solidarity was also strong, with many people holding Palestine flags and wearing keffiyehs.
Labor’s decision to quash discussion on the AUKUS war pact with the United States and Britain or Palestine at its conference had infuriated many. A mild motion on Palestine by Ed Husic, MP for Chiefly, was kept by the factions from making it to the floor.
Early on the morning of July 24, more than 150 activists rallied to demand federal Labor scraps AUKUS. The “Time to Break free from the US” protest, led by the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN), called for Labor to cut the US military alliance and demanded the closure of all US bases and foreign weapons factories.
A moving performance from the Creatives for Palestine Choir kicked off the morning’s proceedings. Extinction Rebellion SA (XRSA) then staged a theatrical performance, which highlighted the climate costs of Labor’s policies. XRSA activists wore bright orange hazmat suits and greeted conference delegates with slow clapping, the ominous sounds of loud air-raid sirens and a ticking clock.
Speakers at the rally proper included Michael Wright, National Secretary of Electrical Trades Union, Allen Harris, a former Builders Labourers Federation and retired Construction Forestry Mining Employees Union member, Annette Brownlie, chairperson of IPAN, Arthur Rorris, Secretary of the South Coast Labour Council, Hamish McPherson from Labor Against War and Abby Martin, a US documentary filmmaker.
Martin is touring the country with Earth’s Greatest Enemy and was a keynote speaker at IPAN’s national conference held the same weekend.
The rally on July 25 was organised by a number of groups under the banner “Social Spending Not War Spending”. That coalition was led by Anti-Poverty Network SA.
After XRSA performed another piece of street theatre — a comedic piece called “Labor in bed with dirty coal and gas”, speakers demanded that federal Labor end its complicity in the Gaza genocide, sanction Israel, scrap AUKUS and redirect funds to people and communities, including the protecting and extending the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). They made it clear that Labor’s decision to prioritise militarisation, weapons and war will cause much harm to communities.
Addressing the rally were Janette Milera, Kaurna, Narungga and Arabunna elder, disability activists Isabella Montana and Aislinn Bradshaw, who called for the cuts to the NDIS to be reversed, Allen Harris from the CFMEU, Australia Friends of Palestine Association chairperson Christa Christaki, Labor Against War representative Marcus Strom and Greens MLC Melanie Selwood.
