Margie Pestorius

Speed Dating on Hamilton Island: The Weapons Manufacturers Meet the Miners

The Cairns Post in September published the following list of participants to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Hamilton Island Junket conducted last May around the time of their $444 million windfall.

It’s wasn’t only the Finance and Fossil Fuels folk but the Merchants of Death were present too: Boeing, Aecom and GE.

Climate and Militarism – two sides of the same coin – rooted in extractivism.

It’s a speed dating weekend, where relationships are made and deals done. In the topic of your choice. While pretending its about “Save the Reef”. Was that Captain America where the evil ones were the good ones were the evil ones??? Or Austin Powers??

Only the scientists present would have been confused enough to think it was about science.

One, who wasn’t there, can be heard on the ABC Hamish Macdonald soon after convinced that the BRF was committed to great science – their projects were all, at last, being funded.

Chairman’s Panel Weekend
Qualia, Hamilton Island QLD
18-20 May, 2018

Attendee List:

Dr John Schubert AO- Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Ms Anna Marsden- Managing Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Ms Julianne Alroe- CEO of Brisbane Aiport Corporation

Mr Todd Bettley- Chief Executive (AUS & NZ) AECOM

Mr Darryl Cuzzubbo- Group Executive & President (Australia Pacific & Asia) Orlea

Ms Maureen Dougherty- President of Boeing Australia, NZ and South Pacific

Dr Matthew Dunbabin- Principal Research Fellow QUT (Autonomous Systems)

Mr Steven Fitzgerald- Chairman of Affirmative Investment Management

Mr Richard Fitzpatrick- Director of Photography for Biopixel

Ms Theresa Fyffe- Executive Director of Projects & Partnerships for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Dr Ruth Gates- Research Professor and Director for Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology

Mr John Gunn- Board Director for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Mr Andrew Harding- CEO Aurizon

Dr Paul Hardisty- CEO Australian Institute of Marine Science

Ms Amanda Hicks- Partner KPMG Aculty for KPMG Australia

Ms Lori Hogan- Director of Corporate Development for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Prof Karen Hussey- Director for Faculty of Centre for Policy Futures at University of QLD

Mr Alan Joyce AC- Managing Director and Group CEO at Qantas Airways Limited

Mr Mike Kane- CEO Boral Limited

Mr Grant King- President of the Business Council of Australia

Ms Wendy King- President (Australia East) for ConocoPhillips Australia

Ms Katie Lahey- Executive Chairman (Australia) for Korn Ferry

Dr Larry Marshall- Chief Executive for CSIRO

Mr Jeremy Maycock- Chairman for Port of Brisbane

Ms Amanda McCluskey- Head of Sustainable Funds Group and Chair for Stewart Investors

Mr Jason Pellegrino- Managing Director of Google Australia

Dr Russell Reichelt- Chairman for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Mr Steven Sargeant- Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Mr Brian Sheahan- Executive Chairman for Morgans Financial Ltd

Mr Bevan Slattery- Executive Director at Superloop

Mr Phillip Strachan- Director for Queensland Rail

Mr Jon Sutton- Managing Director & CEO at Bank of Queensland

Mr Paul Uren- CEO (Australia & NZ) at JP Morgan

Prof Madeleine Van Oppen- Senior Principal Research Scientist and Chair in Marine Biology at University of Melbourne and Australian Institute of Marine Science

Ms Olivia Wirth- Group Executive Brand, Marketing & Corporate Affairs at Qantas Airways Limited

Ms Karen Wood- Chairman at BHP Billiton Foundation

Mr Max York- CEO at GE Australia Pty Ltd

#DisarmUnis Directory

Disarm Uni Facebook sites

National

We are building a national grassroots campaign to represent staff, students and alumni and put an end to the relationship between Universities and Weapons Dealers. Sign up here to get involved: Sign up to #DisarmUnis

@DisarmUnis

Victoria

New South Wales

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Disarm UNSW

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Wollongong of Wollongong

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Queensland

Queensland University of Technology

@disarmqut

University of Queensland

@DisarmUQ

Griffith University

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ACT

Australian National University

@Disarm-ANU-booksnotbombs-1524369367692491

Western Australia

University of Western Australia

@disarmuwa

South Australia

Adelaide University

@Disarm-Adelaide-University-1732792926804159

Disarm Flinders

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Books Not Bombs – National Union of Students

Books not Bombs is a campaign run by the NUS Education Department for better funding for education and no ties between universities and arms manufacturers

The Australian Government is slashing education funding while turning itself into one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers. We’re campaigning to fund education not war.

@booksnotbombsnus

Open letter to UQ concerning the naming of a new building after the CEO of Dow Chemicals

#DisarmUQ #DisarmUnis: Add your signature to this letter: Email Duncan Hart Include your name and any relevant information

Open letter to the University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor, Peter Hoj, concerning the recent announcement of a building and academy to be named after CEO and Chairman of Dow Chemical Company, Andrew Liveris.

We the undersigned wish to express our opposition to the recent announcement that the University of Queensland (UQ) will be naming a new building after Dow Chemical Company CEO and chairman, Andrew Liveris. The new building will also house an “academy” also to be named after Mr Liveris, all to be paid for with the help of a $40 million donation by Mr Liveris and his wife, to UQ’s “Not if, when” campaign.

In making this announcement, UQ has pointed to the academy as helping “identify promising students with leadership potential and a passion to address sustainability issues involving clean water, safe food and modern energy services.”

The Dow Chemical Company that Mr Liveris has managed since 2004 has a record of ethically reprehensible and environmentally destructive practices that contradicts this stated intention.

Dow is most famous for its exclusive manufacture of napalm for use by the United States military during the war in Vietnam, during which 388,000 tonnes were manufactured and deployed against Vietnamese people.

Dow is also infamous as one of the largest manufacturers of the toxic defoliant, Agent Orange, which was sprayed by United States forces over 20% of Vietnam between 1961 and 1971, exposing between two and five million people to the chemical. Over the years the result has been higher rates of cancer and birth defects being passed on from generation to generation, both among the Vietnamese and US and allied soldiers. To this day, many Vietnamese children are born with significant birth defects.

Agent Orange also led to ongoing catastrophic effects upon the natural environment of Vietnam, with the loss of 124,000 hectares of mangrove forest during the war, and continued soil pollution, with ramifications for the entire ecosystem.

To this day, including under the management of Liveris, Dow refuses any responsibility for the effects of Agent Orange, even disputing the scientific evidence of its health impacts.

More recently in 2017, Dow successfully lobbied to overturn a ban on the insecticide chlorpyrifos, despite the US Environmental Protection Agency finding that the chemical potentially caused brain defects.

Given these factors, it contradicts the stated principles behind the University of Queensland’s “Not if, when” campaign to honour a figure who has been so integral to the Dow Chemical Company. If this project were to go ahead, this building would be a monument to profits that Dow Chemicals made through atrocities. We urge the university to reconsider accepting the donation of Mr Liveris and in particular the naming of a building and educational institution in his name.

The list of signatories for this letter is being updated here

Michael Berkman, UQ Alumnus, Greens MP for Maiwar

Andrew Bartlett, UQ Alumnus, Greens Senator for Queensland

Jonathan Sri, UQ Alumnus, Brisbane City Councillor for the Gabba Ward

Duncan Hart, UQ Union Councillor for the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty

Peter Holbrook FAHA, Professor, University of Queensland

Andrew Bonnell, Associate Professor in History, University of Queensland

Dr Annie Pohlman, Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland

Dr Jon Piccini, UQ Fellow in History

Liam Coulthard, Lecturer, School of Medicine, University of Queensland and Resident Medical Officer, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital

Dr Karen Selberg , Lecturer in Humanities, University of Queensland

Dr Morgan Brigg, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict, University of Queensland

Dr Peter Scally, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Director of Medical Imaging, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital

Alan Coulthard, Professor of Neuroradiology, University of Queensland

Dr Gilbert Burgh, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Queensland

Jennifer Clement, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Queensland

Dr Jessica White, ARC DECRA Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Queensland

Dr Judith Seaboyer, Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies, University of Queensland

Dr Charlotte-Rose Millar, UQ Fellow

Dr Bronwen Levy, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland

Tomoko Aoyama, Associate Professor, University of Queensland

Carole Ferrier, Professor of Literature and Women’s Studies, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland

Xanthe Ashburner, UQ alumnus and Education and Outreach Officer with the UQ Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions

Dr Ruth Blair, UQ Alumna and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland

Robyn Clare, Library Assistant, Fryer Library

Sally Babidge, Anthropologist, School of Social Science, University of Queensland

Daniel O’Neill, Honorary Research Advisor in School of Communication and Arts, and ex-lecturer in English, University of Queensland

Philip Nase, UQ Alumnus, retired Judge, District Court of Queensland

Lesley Synge, UQ Alumna and author

Humphrey McQueen, UQ Alumnus and author

Dr Jessie Wells, UQ Alumna and Honorary Research Fellow, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Cameron Browne, UQ Alumni, ERC grant winner and Associate Professor at Maastricht University (Netherlands)

Dr Greg Mallory, UQ Alumnus

Dr Raymond Evans, ex-reader in History at the University of Queensland

Dr Ross Gwyther, UQ Alumnus and Physics Researcher, 1980-1993

Kate Douglas, UQ Alumna and Professor, Flinders University

Helen Gilbert, UQ Alumna, Professor of Theatre, University of London

Dr Shannon Brincat, UQ Alumni

Phil Griffiths, UQ Alumnus and Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Southern Queensland (in personal capacity)

Susan Price, UQ Alumna and former NTEU UNSW Branch President

Robert (Bob) Reed, UQ Alumnus, Barrister

Dr David M. Douglas, UQ Alumnus

Fiorenza Jones, OAM, UQ Alumna

Craig Buckley, UQ Alumnus, Secretary of the Brisbane Labour History Association

John Tomlinson, UQ Alumnus

Ian Curr, UQ Alumnus

Mary Okello, UQ Alumna and ex-member of Administrative Staff

Samantha Lo Monaco, UQ Alumna

Nadia Okorn, UQ Alumna

Zoe Cebuliak, UQ Alumna

Bronte Alinta Geitz, UQ Alumna

Rose Trappes, UQ Alumna

Katherine Hopkins, UQ Alumna

Ann Paterson, UQ Alumna

Hamza Surbuland, President of UQ Pakistani Students Association

Priya De, President of Socialist Alternative UQ

John de Bhal, Alumnus and Academic Tutor, University of Queensland

Harrison O’Carroll, President of the UQ Anti-Capitalist Club

Adelaide Power, UQ Union Councillor for the Science Faculty

Paul Dibley-Maher, Tutor, UQ Business School

Elisabeth Silvester, UQ Union Councillor for the Business, Economics and Law Faculty

Murray Olsen, Honorary Senior Researcher, University of Queensland

Mutiara Pertius, PhD candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland

Galih Imaduddin, PhD Candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland

Faiza El-Higzi, PhD candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland

Simone Thornton, PhD candidate, HaPI, University of Queensland

Aysha Zaharin, PhD candidate, University of Queensland

Ash Zeller, National Union of Students QLD Education Officer

Mansur Alam, UQ Rohingya community activist

Isabella Pennings, Australian Youth Climate Coalition UQ Convenor

Luciana Lawe Davies, UQ student

Yasmin Abraham, UQ student

Chloe Ryan, UQ student

Sarah Davies, UQ student

Jaime Bloomfield, UQ student

Ella Gutteridge, UQ student

Susanna Huang, UQ Student

Heilyn Bonquin, UQ Student

Meg Jemison, UQ Student

Zane Higgins, UQ Student

Lachlan De Verinne, UQ Student

Louise Devadson, UQ Student

Isabelle Bettridge, UQ Student

Auneep Rahim, UQ Student

Tanushree Sharma, UQ Student

Dr Robert V Anderson, OAM, member of Griffith University Council and member of the Brisbane Council of Elders

Dr Stuart Rees, AM, Professor Emeritus University of Sydney

Bob Russell, Adjunct Associate Professor, Griffith University

Bridget Fowler, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow

Hersha Kadkol, National Union of Students Ethnocultural Officer

Lisa Milner, Senior Lecturer, Southern Cross University

Lara Sonnenschein, University of Sydney Student Representative’s Council Education Officer

Dr Michael Karadjis, Western Sydney University College

Salman Panahy, Tutor in Philosophy, Melbourne University

Dr Richard Hill, School of Social Work and Human Services, Griffith University

Robert Pekin, CEO, Food Connect and Director, Food Connect Foundation

Emma-Kate Rose, Chair, Queensland Social Enterprise Council

Evan Jones, ex-lecturer in Ballet, Queensland University of Technology

Verity Burgmann, Adjunct Professor, Monash University

Catherine Boyle

Helen Metzger

Emilia Hanna

#GiveEmtheBoot Events Coming Up in Sydney!

Public Meeting. Tuesday, July 17th

Launch of the #GiveemtheBoot Project

“Keep Australia Out of US Wars”

LIVE FEED FROM OZANTIBASES on FACEBOOK

Speakers:

Senator Lee Rhiannon, Greens Senator NSW
Richard Broinowski
Nick Deane, Independent Peaceful Australia Network

Australian Needs an Independent Foreign Policy
Richard Broinowski will speak on peace for Korea and Australia’s role;
Lee Rhiannon on the need for an independent foreign policy for Australia, and
and Nick Deane will introduce the ‘Give ’em the boot!’ campaign to terminate the ‘Force Posture Agreement’ with the USA, and send the US marines in Darwin back home.

Venue: NSW Teachers Federation: 23-33 Mary Street, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia 2010

Commemorate Don’t Commercialise

Tell the Australian War Memorial Director and Council to Australian War Memorial: Stop accepting funding from weapon-makers.

The Australian War Memorial increasingly seeks and accepts sponsorships from the world’s largest multinational weapon manufacturers. These companies reap enormous profits from war; for them, ongoing warfare leads to greater business success. They have no place in a memorial to our war dead.