Margie Pestorius

Thales – fact sheet

‘Building a future we can all trust’- Thales company slogan Global CEO Patrice Caine: ‘has his eye on Australia as a development centre’

Thales defence revenue in 2019 was $9.251 billion. Thales is the 8^th largest defence contractor in the world.Global HQ: Tour Carpe Diem, 31 Place des Corolles – CS 20001, 92098 Paris La Defense Cedex +33 (0) 1 57 77 80 00 Thales has offices in: Africa: South Africa,^[42] Egypt,^[43] Morocco.^[44] Asia: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, India, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan ^[45] Europe: Norway, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Turkey Oceania: Australia North America: Canada,^[46] Mexico, United States South America:^[47] Brazil, Argentina, Dominican Republic.

Thales Australia

CEO: Chris Jenkins

Finn St, North Bendigo VIC 3550 Tel: +61 3 5440 4311 +61 (0)2 8037 6000 communications@thalesgroup.com.au +61 (0)2 8037 6000 sales@thalesgroup.com.au Australia & New Zealand Press Enquiries +61 (0)404 073 169 alasdair.cameron@thalesgroup.com.au https://www.thalesgroup.com/en Australia has Prime Corporation status – and is one of 8 “primes” in the Global Supply Chain Program. This is primarily about grooming Australian companies to make military exports. Locations: Bendigo – Armoured Vehicles, Benalla – Munitions $1.6 billion of exports from Australia in past ten years In 2006 Thales acquired Australian Defence Industries, a major manufacturer of military equipment such as smokeless gunpowder and the Bushmaster IMV. In February 2018, Thales won on a A$1.2 billion ($946 million) contract with Airservices Australia and the Australian Department of Defence to unify Australia’s civil and military airspace under a single air traffic control system, named “OneSKY”.^[26]

Armoured Vehicles/Tanks

2013 Thales sold 3 Bushmaster vehicles to Kopassus. This was a govt to govt contract worth $2.7 million, brokered by AMSO

2016

During the fourth Ministerial 2+2 dialogue with Indonesia on October 27 2016, senior Australian defence industry officials signed a collaboration agreement to further develop a mine-resistant armoured vehicle which was launched at IndoDefence 2016 exhibition in Jakarta. According to the official joint communique, issued by Australian Foreign and Defence Ministers Julie Bishop and Marise Payne and their Indonesian counterparts Retno Marsudi and Ryamizad Ryacudu, the design is based upon the Australian Bushmaster design developed by Thales Australia. Thales and Indonesian armoured vehicle manufacturer PT Pindad will cooperate on the design, which would be customised for Indonesian Army (TNI) needs. The vehicle is called the Sanca.

*Pindad Sanca MRAP with Rheinmetall Qimek RCWS [Source: Wikipedia]*

Thales-Pindad Sanca APC

MUNITIONS

2018 The Australian government announced Monday (29 June) two deals with munitions suppliers that should help secure hundreds of Australian jobs for another decade. Defence signed a new agreement with Thales Australia for the continued management and operation of Australia’s munition factories in Benalla (Victoria) and Mulwala (New South Wales). The A$1.1 billion agreement provides ensures the supply of key munitions and components for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The government also signed a deal with supplier NIOA Munitions. Thales manufacture the following ammunition:

military small arms ammo — Military small arms – ammunition

Thales bullets

5.56 mm M193/NATO SS109 and L110 5.56 mm/7.62 mm brass & plastic blank 7.62 mm NATO ball/tracer .50 cal ball 20 mm phalanx and M55 full and sub-calibre projectiles 30 mm DEFA air-to-air and air-to ground 40 mm Q/F For practice Mk6, practice Mk 1 and 1 A/T Mk4 and HE 81 mm mortar augmenting charges 105 mm Tank 105 mm Tank L7 For L35A3 or L56A1 105 mm Howitzer M2 & M4 Zones 1–2 for M67, HE shell 105 mm Howitzer M2 & M4 Zones 3–4 for M67, HE shell 105 mm Tank L7 HESH 105 mm Tank L7 APPSDS 5”/54 naval 155 mm Ho witzer Zones 3–7 for M4A2.

Mortar 81mm being fired — *This Thales Mo 81 LLR is ‘very easy to use’*

Thales mortars loaded — *Thales mortars are masterpieces of modern industrial technology. Apparently they will last forever (but only if you never use them)*

Questionable Practices In the Realms of Corruption²Revolving Door and Undue Influence

Thales and the Revolving Door

Brendan Nelson, former Defence Minister, was on the “advisory board” between 2015 and 2019. ¹ Former ASIO boss Duncan Lewis joined the Thales board 5 months after he left ASIO ¹

Thales and “Undue Influence”²

“Defence recommends buying hundreds of vehicles from Thales, despite no need for them, just so Thales can keep its factory open” Fahy 2 Thales appears to be expert in exerting undue influence on Governments.

influenced AG Christian Porter to censor key parts of the auditor general’s report (ANAO report) into procurement process for the Thales Hawkei vehicle.
influenced the government of 2008-2011 to pursue a high risk program. / 2015 appointed Nelson to its advisory board / Agreed on the contract
The option was $700million higher than the other options
Defence purchased 214 extra vehicles even though there was no need for them $221million associated increase in expenditure. This was to keep the Bendigo plant operating.
Refused to negotiate on prices once it was locked into the “prime” “GSCP” arrangements – the government lost leverage. ²
Appears to have been involved in overpricing to the tune of $16million but this was “investigated” by a friend of the family. ^2/3
All of this was hidden and refused until Rex Patrick fought with the government the parts of the audit report that were redacted, visible. The Government was found to have acted wrongly in redacting parts of the report.⁴

https://www.michaelwest.com.au/culture-of-cosiness-colossal-conflicts-of-interest-in-defence-spending-blitz/ ¹ Michelle Fahy reports https://www.michaelwest.com.au/department-of-defence-captured-by-foreign-weapons-makers-thales-bae/ ² https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/defence-to-investigate-inflated-navy-contracts/news-story/eb3381b5df79b3fc66c7e1c4b3d34449 ³ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/09/government-wrong-to-censor-report-to-protect-arms-makers-interests-tribunal-finds ⁴ From Thales website:

Land Forces 2021

1-3 June 2021 Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

LAND FORCES 2021 is an international industry exposition to showcase equipment, technology and services for the armies of Australia and the Indo-Asia-Pacific.

The biennial LAND FORCES exposition is a powerful forum for key decision-makers from throughout the region, enabling government representatives, defence officials, military procurement managers and senior army officers to network with defence materiel manufacturers, equipment suppliers and service providers.

From Thales Australia:

We’re passionate about preserving the planet for future generations. That’s why we operate in a way that protects the environment, preserves biodiversity and respects natural sites. We’re reducing our footprint by minimising our resources, seeking less environmentally harmful alternatives where we can, recycling and preventing pollution wherever possible.

For more information go to disruptlandforces.org #disruptlandforces Email info@disruptlandforces.org

Submarines and Thales

Australia’s $80-$100Billion Submarine Contract has gone to Naval Group which is one third owned by Thales.

Naval is 35 percent owned by Thales, 63 percent owned by French Government - Pie chart — *Naval is 35 percent owned by Thales, 63 percent owned by French Government*

Nioa should rule out exporting weapons to Indonesia

We Stopped Workers at Pinkenba Weapons Factory

We shut down the entrances of a Pinkenba weapons factory for over an hour this week. We have asked Nioa to change the arrangements: rule out exporting munitions to Indonesia.

Here we are in front of the gate making the explosion of militarism visible!

Sign for human rights not weapons exports

We at Wage Peace generally think it is NOT strategic to ask governments to change things. The ‘Masters of War’ are the corporations: the ‘War Pigs’. Our ‘government’ administers their directives.

But we ask you to share this petition (by copying its web address) because the “Office of Defence Export Controls” are issuing licences for exports to human rights abusers. A few examples of potential dealers follow.

Probowo, is a recorded war criminal, currently, Defence Minister in Indonesia.
Duterte in the Philippines is killing poor people and detaining journalists.
Bin Salman organised the killing of Khashoggi.
The US bombs whole cities where ‘civilians’ live for its ‘geo strategic’ (corporations’) objectives.

We know about Saudi Arabia and UAE because of freedom of information requests. Otherwise, we guess. We watch who attends the international weapons events such as Land Forces, on in Brisbane in June. And we research pre-existing arrangements.

Sharing the petition allows us to “raise awareness“, to find NEW people interested in halting the explosive expansion of militarism. We know YOU are interested. But this issue speaks to thousands of ordinary people. We ALL have a war story, even if it is a few generations back. It may be our family’s colonisation, by methods of war, of this land never ceded by First Nations people.

Corporations should rule out selling weapons to war criminals and human rights abusers. Rule them out one by one. So share the petition to NEW PEOPLE – family, new friends. People hate people them #makingakilling.

Best wishes and peace,

Margie Pestorius, Jim and Greg and Dave and the Peace Pilgrims

Will you prepare to stand with us using direct action to #DisruptLandforces in Brisbane, from 28th May 2021

Sign up here to get involved disrupting Landforces in Brisbane. DisruptLandforces .org

Check our Live Feeds at Wage Peace You Tube. In the last month we have held increasingly disruptive events protesting the weapons corporations at three Brisbane weapons factories. EOS, Nioa and Rheinmetall. These Live Feeds give a background to what they are doing and how. Choose a target – get involved. Boeing is also involved providing attack helicopters and weapons systems. We have some thoughts.

Media Release: Blocking Nioa, Blocking Weapons Deals – Share video

On Wednesday, engineers and their managers arriving at Nioa were prevented from entering as a sign of the group’s opposition to human rights abuse by police and army in West Papua, southern Philippines, and even possibly Myanmar.

“This weapons business is setting up to export munitions to countries that commit human rights abuses. We want to build peaceful communities while these corporations barrack for more violence”, said Christine Venner-Westaway from Quakers for Peace.

“Through their subsidiary Rheinmetall Nioa, we expect them to be placing undue pressure on the Australian government to gain export licences that allow the sale of munitions to Indonesia.” Margaret Pestorius said. “Both Rheinmetall and Nioa are sponsors of the Land Forces exhibition in June at the Brisbane Convention Centre. This expo is about pushing more weapons into the Indo Pacific.”

Rheinmetall is already heavily involved dealing munitions and armoured vehicles with Indonesia. The terms of their involvement in the Australian “Global Supply Chain Program” are to facilitate export arrangements.

Nioa Munitions: An excess of public money to fund police and the gun lobby

[

Please note -update May 2022.

We did have a NIOA logo on the above poster as part of our satirical rendering of their business operations. But Nioa’s in house lawyer Tim Donelley threatened to sue us, so we have removed it. We can only assume they are taking litigation lessons from the NRA in the USA.

Nioa has expanded its business massively in the last 5 years. This is the period in which the government has promised to become one of the worlds great weapons exporters. (They are currently one of the Worlds greatest IMporters which is still good for the weapons industry corporations)

Given the following:

Given this government directive to export;

Given a close partnership between Nioa and the German company Rheinmetall;

Given Rheinmetall is already manufacturing and exporting to Indonesia;

We can only assume that Nioa intends to export to Indonesia as well.

We are open to Nioa assuring us and the people of West Papua otherwise. #PeaceinPapua

__________________________________________

January 2021 – Reflection on Nioa’s involvement in the weapons industry.

The weaponisation of our economy, police, polity and society continues apace. What was once extreme is becoming normalised, as military industries become more embedded and seek new ways to camouflage their real business, which is ‘Crapitalism’ #NotDefence. Small business in Australia is being groomed by the world’s largest corporations, who have been given special status and lots of money by the Australian government to export weapons.

Queensland company Nioa is something of a case study, having evolved from a small regional ammunition retailer to Australia’s largest privately owned firearms and munitions supplier. New partnerships with Rheinmetall and US Winchester, encouraged and financially supported by state and federal governments, bring Nioa into the global supply chain of #WarProfiteers.

Australian Gun Laws: Nioa also features in a report by Bill Brown for the Australia Institute commissioned by Gun Control Australia. The report reveals that an NRA style gun lobby is flourishing in Australia. According to Sam Lee president of Gun Control Australia, this lobby “. . . has deep pockets, extensive networks and parliamentary representation” and aims “ . . . to dismantle our gun laws. Gun laws that have kept Australians safe for decades.” Hinman writing in Green Left makes the important point that any dismantling of Australia’s gun laws would benefit the NRA because “The NRA has a material interest in Australia relaxing its gun laws given that guns are mostly imported from the US — meaning that the profits would flow back to NRA members and supporters.”

The Australia Institute report summarises the modus operandi of the gun lobby through which “The public will on firearms is being circumvented because firearms interest groups have made a concerted effort to undermine these laws and loosen state-level gun controls.” Brown notes that firearms suppliers and their peak bodies and members’ associations (shooting and hunting clubs and gun advocates) “have made significant political donations, run campaigns to influence voters and encouraged the election of pro-gun cross benchers.” The report found the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA) had almost as many members, per capita, as the National Rifle Association (NRA), with almost 200,000 members — or about 0.8 per cent of the population.The SSAA has an estimated combined income of $18 million per year.

Shooting Industry Foundation: The other big player in the Australian gun lobby is the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA), the peak body for the firearms industry. According to the report, it received $1.2 million from its corporate members between 2014 and late 2018. One of its directors is Robert Nioa, Queensland firearms wholesaler and son-in-law of Bob Katter, leader of the Australian Party. It will come as no surprise then that according to available data, (covering the period 2011 to 2018) Katter’s Australian Party received the largest amount of political donations, amounting to $808,000, and that most of these donations came from Mr Nioa and SSAA Qld.

The Shooters Party’s state and federal branches received the second-most disclosed political donations, totalling almost $700,000, most of these donations came from hunting clubs, the SSAA, SIFA and the amateur pistol association. The Liberal Party was a distant third, receiving $46,000 in donations, from SIFA and defence contractor Thales. The Liberal Democrats got $37,000 from Mr Nioa and SSAA, while the Nationals, the ALP and Country Alliance all received between $30,000 and $40,000.

Political Advertising: The report stressed that much of the gun lobby’s political spending is in the form of election campaigns that are not necessarily captured by disclosure laws. SIFA was the fourth-largest gun lobby donor in the period 2011-2018 and while it only donated $64,000 to political parties, it spent $750,000 on two recent state election campaigns alone. The Flick ‘Em campaign during the 2017 Queensland election and the Not. Happy. Dan campaign during the 2018 Victorian state election.

Like political advertising funded by the NRA in the US, ads used in these elections did not specifically mention guns, instead covering topics like crime rates, electricity costs and job shortages. The ads campaigned against the major parties and encouraged votes for the minor parties. According to the report “The strategy of the firearms industry running political campaigns that do not mention guns is an import from the United States, where it has been used extensively by the NRA.” Hinman reminds us that the idea that more guns equal more protection for citizens is another US import that should be rejected, along with the manipulation of fear or calls for more “law and order” policies and further militarisation of the police “that only encourages the greater use of guns rather than deploy other, non-combat, tactics.”

The Australian gun lobby runs political campaigns and lobbies politicians and journalists, but it attracts little attention in Australia because it keeps its operations low key. Gun lobby political advertising in recent years has mostly avoided mentioning firearms or gun control at all. Messaging continues to perpetuate the idea that shooting organisations are socially appropriate and even have positive social benefits. According to an ABC investigation, Senator Bridget McKenzie, the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Shooting, remarked during her time as Sports Minister that “This sport is a part of our heritage . . . it is in the top 10 medal sports in each and every Olympics for our country and that’s something we should be proud of, not something we should be scared of or afraid of.” Ms McKenzie attended a gun expo in 2018 where she announced a study into the social and economic benefits of the shooting sports in Australia. She said she did not support a ban on political donations or “a political ban on any other sporting body that seeks to participate in the parliamentary democracy that we have here.”

The gun lobby including gun manufacturers and importers spend big dollars to exert influence. Guns are big business and strong gun laws are bad for business, “to put it simply, if you weaken gun laws, you can sell more guns.” The Australia Institute believes that because the gun lobby in Australia would “face stiff opposition to talk of relaxing gun laws, it has concentrated instead on ‘pushing the boundaries’ of the National Firearms Act” (NFA). This includes trying to justify legalising a new gun on the basis of “new technology” and using that as “the new benchmark for why slightly more powerful or faster guns should be legal.”

NIOA is a good example, as Australia’s largest supplier of firearms, optics, ammunition and accessories to the Australian shooter, it represents in excess of 50 international suppliers including household names like, Federal and CCI ammunition, Ruger, Anschutz, Leupold, Bushnell, Colt, Glock and many more. Nonetheless, NIOA promotes itself as a model Queensland citizen. The company was awarded Prime Contractor of the Year and Land Business of the Year in Defence Connect’s – Australian Defence Industry Awards. Director Robert Nioa waxed lyrical about this “wonderful achievement for a Queensland firm,” and professed his pride that “‘Since our early days in regional Queensland, NIOA has been built on hard work, personal effort and trust, and these things are still the hallmark of the company.”

Nioa is a major sponsor of Land Forces 2021: Making a Killing at the Killer Expo

Christopher Pyne in the revolving door: Who would think they made things that kill – munitions, bullets and automatic machine-gun chains for export, including ammunition for the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme. For NIOA this could be an opportune moment, with both the government defence export strategy and the increasing militarisation of police forces being potentially advantageous for this armaments and arms manufacturer. The company has also had a productive association with Christopher Pyne, who in January 2018, while Minister for Defence, announced the award of a $100 million Federal government contract by the Commonwealth under the LAND 17-1C.2 Future Artillery Ammunition program. In 2020 he was welcomed as the chairman of the company’s inaugural advisory board. NIOA were apparently “delighted” that he had accepted the position “at an important time for the company and the future of Australia’s sovereign military capability.

Meanwhile NIOA, and other defence contractors, have big fish to fry as well and they are doing it in a neighbourhood near you. NIOA is part of the rapidly developing weapons industry in Brisbane and they have benefited financially from being part of the Global Supply Chain Program. Since 1918 NIOA has received millions in grants and contracts from Federal and State governments. Partnerships also bring co-funding, for example with global corporates like Rheinmetall, or as the ‘weaponised partner’ to Australian company Skyborne who manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) such as the Cerberus GL. The new joint venture Rheinmetall-NIOA Munitions set to make bullets and automatic machine-gun chains for export, including ammunition for the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme, received $28.5 million from the Federal Government’s Regional Growth Fund for the construction of it’s ‘projectile forging plant’ in Maryborough. These ‘donations’ from the public purse, cover years of corporate donations and leave plenty free to further fund the ‘gun lobby’.

We presume the new GSCP partnership ‘Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions’ is set to cut in on Thales Australian munitions sales to Indonesia. Indonesia’s military is implicated in human rights abuses in West Papua.

When ordinary citizens take action on sites such as the NIOA factory it provides concrete information about the real people going about their everyday preparation for war crimes. This action by Wage Peace at Pinkenba, draws attention to the fact that NIOA is not just a typical Queensland company and helps to expose the weapons companies’ interest in promoting violent conflicts to sell their products.

This year weapons companies will be pushing for contracts and dealing with dictators at Land Forces, a massive land-weapons trade event in Brisbane in June 2021.

Truly they are #WarProfiteers, with their sights set on #MakingaKilling.

References:

Blucher, A & Knowles, L. (2019, March, 27). Australian gun lobby as big and cashed-up as NRA, report finds. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Brown, B (2019). Point blank Political strategies of Australia’s gun lobby (Discussion Paper).

Defence Connect (2020, 2 December). NIOA Welcomes Former Defence Minister to Head Advisory Board [Media Release]

Goldsworthy, T (2018, 6 April). Australia should be wary of the rise of the ‘warrior cop’, with military-style weapons to match. ABC – The Conversation.

Hinman, P. (2019). Guns and politics: The manipulation of political will. Green Left Weekly, (1216), 10.

Leung, J (2019, 20 February). Skyborne Opens Defence R&D Facility in Murarrie. Skyborne Technologies. www.skybornetech.com

NIOA (2020, 27 November) NIOA Claims Prestigious Defence Industry Awards. NIOA [Media release].

Regional Growth Fund. (2019). Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communication.

The Australia Institute. (2019, March 27). Australian Gun Lobby as Large as US Gun Lobby [Media release].

A version of this article was published in Green Left Weekly as Nioa Munitions and how public money funds the gun lobby

WE WON! Smith Family drops BAE sponsorship

After being called out by the peace movement the Smith Family has refused further funding from the weapons industry.

In the middle of Pandemic 2020 it came to our attention that BAE Systems, a transnational weapons corporation, was funding the children’s charity The Smith Family: $100,000 for supposed ‘STEM’ education.

We call it ‘Reputation Laundering’.

2020 was the year following Save the Children’s epic celebration: 100 years, formed at the end of World War One in response to the plight of children suffering following war. The year was marked with the hashtag #StoptheWaronChildren! In particular, 2019 saw a particular focus on challenging the trade in weapons to Saudi Arabia. The trade was fuelling the death of hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen. Children. BAE was implicated.

Enter The Smith Family.

We began to dramatise the issue. The Smith Family’s executive was directed to BAE’s harsh history of killing children, via its illegal weapons deals to Saudi Arabia.(1.) Direct killing with guidance systems used in drone and jet bombings; indirect killing when civilian infrastructure in Yemen or Iraq is bombed by the weapons company’s hi-tech products. Resulting in famine, and lack of access to water and health services, targetting infrastructure is a war crime.

With no ethical system guiding the weapons industry, they are compelled to coerce and scare governments to buy their abominable products. BAE represents the ‘big money’ pushing to maintain conflicts in African and Middle Eastern populations disrupting First Nations and sovereign cultures across the planet.

And with some citizen dramatisation, we won. Letters were sent and phone calls made. A report was published by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW) outlining how the weapons industry is targeting children’s education. (2) This was followed by amplification by journalists, first Michele Fahy at Michael West (3) and then Paul Daley (4) at the Guardian.

And WE WON!!!
The Smith Family made a good decision. The executive won’t renew the arrangement.

This didn’t just happen. We used strategic thinking and collaboration across a range of organisations.

The military industrial complex will not fall back till they are pushed by our strong values at every point they enter our community: advertising, sponsorships, schools, universities, local weapons factories and councils. They are deluded when they say they make the planet safer. This is the delusion you see in America last week. The delusion of capitalism.

Let’s pick the next target – target by target. Questacon? National Youth Science Forum? Maths Alive? Australian War Memorial…..? ??

Let’s win again.

MINORS & MISSILES
Weapons Companies in Schools
Issues for Educators

Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW)
Local subsidiaries of the world’s biggest weapons companies are using STEM education programs to influence Australian children’s attitudes to weapons and war.

Land Forces – A Killer of an Expo

What is Land Forces Expo?

Land Forces Expo is an international industry event to showcase equipment, technology and services for the armies of Australia and the Indo-Asia-Pacific. South Australia hosted the event in 2018.

In June 2021, it will be held in Brisbane. Its primary goals are to provide an effective platform for the exchange of ideas on key land forces issues (war games) and to take the Australian (weapons) industry to the world by bringing the world to Australia. It is an Arms Trade Fair showcasing products of war, supposedly in the name of national security. In reality, it is a huge multimillion-dollar commercial venture where the manufacturing and associated companies are the real winners and “doing business is easy”!

Who We Are

A group of citizens from a range of peace, faith and academic backgrounds, organisations and networks such as Just Peace, Wage Peace, Quakers Queensland, Peace Convergence, Friends of the Earth, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and United Nations Assoc Aust Qld (UNAAQ) who are deeply concerned about the rise and financial and humanitarian cost of militarism in Australia.

Our Aims

Raise public awareness about this event
Seek to ban the Expo using nonviolent action
Expose companies in Brisbane engaged in weapons designing, engineering and/or manufacturing and seek the cessation of these lucrative business contracts
Redirect the national conversation to one of forging a new economy with a focus on cooperation, mutual self-interest and creative nonviolence in international, national and local endeavours.

Our Focus

These weapons are used predominantly by military forces in authoritarian regimes, and ‘democracies’ on their own people to suppress labour, climate and democracy movements. They are used to restrict the civil rights of ethnic groups and the self-determination movements of Indigenous people. They aid the militarisation of fossil fuel and other land-based resource extraction. These weapons are sold to police forces for use in their militarised wings against civilian populations. They are also used to wage war.

Weaponising Brisbane’s industries

What Australians need to understand:

War-making and weapons manufacturing and trading takes precedence over funding crucial social areas such as public housing, health, employment and education initiatives
Australia currently pours a staggering $98.9m a day into our so-called defence forces and related agendas
Growth in militarism is not helpful for peace and security. A regional arms race is about money for weapons corporations and not defence
Australia’s national security is better served through adopting an independent foreign policy; relationship building with all our Asian neighbours; managing conflicts without violence; finding diplomatic solutions rather than depending on militarism; creating a culture of peace e.g. adding Australia’s signature to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
For sale and on display will be tanks and armoured vehicles; ammunition; guns; attack helicopters; weaponised land-based robots; missiles; computer/digitised interfaces for sending rockets and ammunition; camera laser systems for canons and drones to “enhance lethality” and weaponised flying drones. These weapons will kill men, women and children like yourself, but this will be euphemistically called “collateral damage”

Thales – fact sheet