While the Indonesian military regularly massacres dissidents in West Papua, East Timor and Aceh, and the PNG military is fighting a war against the people of Bougainville to defend the interests of Australian capital, Australian policy is to support the defence forces of these states.
As part of this policy of "defence cooperation", a conference will be held at the beginning of May on "The New Security Agenda in the Asia-Pacific Region". It is being jointly organised by the Strategic Defence Studies Centre, based at the Australian National University, and International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in London.
Speakers include the Australian prime minister and minister for defence, the chief of the Australian defence forces and a vice admiral of the US Navy. Various regional military officials are also expected to attend.
Most military forces in the region are there primarily to deal with domestic threats. The agenda of the conference acknowledges this, saying it "aims to identify important new non-military threats, to assess the nature and effectiveness of military force in a new political and technological era".
A protest has been organised to take place outside the conference at Parliament House at 12.30pm on May 1. There will also be a picket outside the conference dinner at 7pm on May 2, outside University House on the ANU campus.
These actions are being organised by a coalition of activists and are supported by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, Campaign for an Independent East Timor and the ACT Greens.