Protesters took to the streets on September 21 to demand the Labor government breaks its military ties with the United States and Israel.
The protests, on the eve of the United Nations Day of Peace, highlighted how the federal government’s decision to support the Coalition-orchestrated AUKUS binds it to support the Israeli state’s genocide in Gaza.
From Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide, Markela Panegyres reports that there was a festive atmosphere for the rally at Yartapuulti (Port Adelaide). Speakers called for an end to AUKUS and militarism and demanded the Australian government support Palestine by cutting ties with Israel. The protest was organised by Port Adelaide Community Opposing AUKUS.
Two choirs, a giant inflatable submarine, kayakers, drums, music and street theatre were highlights. Another was the arrival of the Peacewalkers Against AUKUS, who had walked more than 400 kilometres from Port Augusta to Port Adelaide to say “No to AUKUS”.
Western Australians gathered at the Rockingham War Memorial, marched to Churchill Park and on to Rockingham Jetty opposite Stirling, Garden Island. It was organised by a number of groups, including Reject AUKUS Rockingham, Stop AUKUS WA and Independent and Peaceful Australia Network. Speakers and attendees called for AUKUS to be cancelled and the Australia-US war alliance to be cancelled.
People were informed that as of 2027 up to four US and one British nuclear-powered submarine will be on rotation at HMAS Stirling. It is now feared that Stirling will, in effect, become a US base and that future US “rotating” nuclear powered submarines could also be nuclear armed.
Speakers said it is increasingly clear that AUKUS will not keep us safe and that US submarines and defence assets in Cockburn Sound risks making WA a military target.
Susan Price reports that Amnesty International organised an event at Southport on Kombumerri Country/Gold Coast. Speakers included Helen O’Sullivan, a Gaza Flotilla activist, Halikl Keretas from Amnesty and Ofure Agbon, a high school student, who spoke about the war in Sudan.
Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition (SAAC) and Stop the War on Palestine (SWOP) co-organised the protest which drew up to 300 people to Sydney Town Hall, on Gadigal Country, reports Pip Hinman.
As the US and Israel continue their war on Palestine, with Australia’s full support, Palestinian-Australian Saffa called for an end to the two-war arms trade and to cut ties with Israel. She described the campaign against Bisalloy which has been awarded another contract to make armored steel for Israel’s F35 jet fighters.
Australia is also deeply implicated in the genocide because it supplies intelligence through the Pine Gap spy base in central Australia that can be used by Israel to pinpoint targets. Cathy Eatock, Co-Chair of the Indigenous Peoples Organisation of Australia, drew the connection between the AUKUS war pact and Australia’s policy towards Israel, pointing to Australia’s refusal to join some European countries’ mild condemnation of Israeli settlers occupation on the West Bank.
Professor Jocelyn Chey, a China specialist, put the case for a foreign policy that “does not take sides” between the US and China.
NSW Greens Senator David Shoebridge said it was frightening how lock-step the major parties are on AUKUS. Arthur Rorris, Secretary, South Coast Labour Council, said the South Coast is united in opposing a submarine base on Port Kembla on the basis of the nuclear threat, the lack of sustainable jobs associated with AUKUS.
Tilly Fay from SWOP called on people to keep protesting for Palestine, and defending those who do and are penalised for doing so. She said a teacher had been stood down for his pro-Palestine views.
Peter Murphy from SAAC appealed to attendees to get involved in building a bigger political force against AUKUS, to force Labor to rethink this disastrous alliance which is escalating tension with China, plunging money into submarines that could be spent on essential services and threatening communities including First Nations peoples with nuclear waste dumps on their land.
