Disarm Australia

MILITARISM IN THE NT NEWSLETTER 1

MILITARISM IN THE NT NEWSLETTER

Hello!

Welcome to the first edition of the Militarism in the NT newsletter. I plan to send out a newsletter with updates on US and Australian military plans and presence in the NT, and perhaps in northern Australia more broadly, every 2-4 weeks.

Many people are aware of US and Australian military presence in the NT, but perhaps less people are aware of just how much this military presence is intensifying as a perennially belligerent US prepares for war with China, and how much a new wave of extractivism in the NT is bound up with the US military industrial complex. For the fiscal year 2024/2025, northern Australia is “the top overseas location for U.S. Air Force and Navy construction spending, with more than $300 million set aside under the U.S. congressional defence authorisations for those years”, Reuters reports. Over the next decade, the Australian government will spend $30 billion on “hardening and upgrading” northern military bases, “partly to meet US requirements and partly paid for by the United States”.

The Northern Territory jurisdiction has participated in the US/Israeli holocaust in Gaza via the provision of intelligence gathered at the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility in Central Australia to Israel’s Signals Intelligence National Unit, and on to the Israeli military. The Northern Territory government is also busy renewing settler dominion at “home” by imprisoning unprecedented numbers of Aboriginal people. Politicians and the media have once again manufactured a racialised crime hysteria that is seeing Aboriginal children being brutalised by the police, prison wardens and an ever-expanding private security and surveillance apparatus. The mayor of Alice Springs has called for the military to be deployed in the town.

The newsletter is motivated by a desire to contribute to activist movements against militarism and extractivism on this continent, and the deprivations of ecological justice and land rights for First Nations they cause. It is conceived as a small contribution to the international fight against imperialism and an effort at solidarity with colonised and subjugated peoples struggling for liberation and justice. It is also intended to precipitate more reporting and investigative journalism on these issues on the part of independent journalists and journalists working within traditional media organisations.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested and/or forward me their email address and I’ll add it to my mailing list for future newsletters. If you’d rather not receive this newsletter in the future, let me know and I’ll remove your email address from the list.

ALICE SPRINGS MAYOR WORKS FULL TIME FOR US MILITARY CONTRACTOR

Alice Springs mayor Matt Patterson works full-time for the US military contractor Amentum. Matt works as a housing maintenance officer for Amentum – making sure the homes of the ~ 1000 Americans and Australians working at Pine Gap are kept in pristine order. He works from 7am – 2pm daily in the Amentum office, then skips across the road after 2pm to take up his mayoral duties (Amentum offices are conveniently located right across the road from the council chamber).

Amentum is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Pine Gap spy base just outside Mparntwe/ Alice Springs, providing facility management and logistics services, among other things. At the 2024 NT Defence Week event in Alice Springs, an Amentum spokesperson said the company employs 400 people in Alice Springs and 44,000 worldwide.

THAT SAME US MILITARY CONTRACTOR IS WORKING TO PROGRESS A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

US military contractor Amentum is working with a company called Tellus Holdings on the Chandler nuclear waste dump, 15 kms from the Aboriginal community of Titjikala and 120 kms south of Alice Springs. Tellus describes its vision as to build “the world’s first multi-national deep geological repository for hazardous chemical and low-level nuclear waste”. Amentum is conducting a strategic review of the project to assess timelines and feasibility.

While the Chandler dump is billed by Tellus Holdings as “supporting Australia’s green energy transition” by providing a place to hold hazardous byproducts associated with critical minerals mining, the dump could also become a repository for hydrocarbon wastes and byproducts from oil and gas commissioning, as well as radioactive materials derived from oil and gas extraction processes.

With the US and Australia having signed a critical minerals compact in 2023 to “friendshore” critical minerals production and reduce US dependence on China for raw materials such as lithium, Amentum’s involvement in the Chandler waste dump underscores the keen eye the US military industrial complex is keeping on the future of extractivism in the NT, and looking at how they can benefit from it.

TEXAN FRACKING COMPANY WANTS TO USE BEETALOO GAS TO POWER A MILITARY DATA CENTRE AT PINE GAP

The chief executive of Texan fracking company Tamboran, Joel Riddle, flew to Washington last week to pitch a $5 billion USD data centre to Donald Trump. The data centre, in Riddle’s estimation, is to be located at Pine Gap, powered by fracked gas from the company’s Beetaloo operations ~800 kms north of Alice Springs, and used by the US and Australian militaries.

Riddle told the Australian Financial Review that “we think the Northern Territory is well positioned for a substantial data centre investment. There is an abundant energy resource, abundant land, existing infrastructure, and a customer that is the Department of Defence…Pine Gap is crucial and there is the Tindal Air Force Base, where there are now nine B52s on the tarmac. This is a highly strategic part of the world for US interest.”

Riddle’s data centre pitch seems to be a bit of a stunt to put Tamboran’s Beetaloo operations in the spotlight and drum up more financing for the company’s exploratory drilling there. Tamboran is burning through cash in the Beetaloo Basin – each of its exploratory wells costs ~ $39 million AUD to drill. Only one of six wells Tamboran has drilled so far has demonstrated commercially viable quantities of gas, and the prospect of returns is still looking extremely fickle.

Nonetheless, we shouldn’t rest easy. Tamboran Resources is in strategic partnership with fellow US fracking company Liberty Energy, the CEO of which, Chris Wright, was recently appointed US energy secretary under Donald Trump. This presumably gives Joel Riddle a fair bit of access to the new Trump administration.

Riddle’s visit to Washington, however, seems to have been badly timed. During the week Riddle landed in Washington, US tech stocks were crumbling because a one year old Chinese start-up called Deep Seek had apparently built a Chat GPT- like AI model with a tiny fraction of the financing and a tiny fraction of the computing power US companies are relying on. This not only had huge ramifications for the US tech industry (US chipmaker Nvidia lost ~ $600 billion in market value in a day). It also had consequences for US energy companies, which have experienced increases in valuation (and received government support and subsidies) on the back of the massive amounts of energy projected to be required to power AI data centres. As CNN reports:

Energy companies had been traded up significantly higher in recent years because of the massive amounts of electricity needed to power AI data centers. But they all plummeted Monday. Constellation Energy (CEG), the company behind the planned revival of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant for powering AI, fell 21% Monday. Competitors like Vistra (VST) fell 28% and GE Vernova (GEV) was down 21%.

Futures for natural gas, used to power electricity generators, tumbled 5.9%. Oil fell more than 2%.

Since the Australian Financial Review broke the story about Riddle’s Washington visit on January 24, Tamboran’s share price has fallen 12.91% on the New York Stock Exchange.

BAE grooming Year 6 kids

Professor Ngiare Brown, Chancellor,
James Cook University
Professor Simon Biggs, Vice Chancellor,
James Cook University,
Far North Queensland, Australia
2024-10-15

Dear Professor Simon Biggs,

BAE Systems weapons corporation has close ties with JCU. JCU has invested in BAE
Systems weapons corporation. JCU has partnered with BAE Systems weapons
corporation.

The ‘Ideas Centre’ recently held a technology workshop targeting 11yr old students in
Year 6, Primary School. Many of the facilitators were BAE Systems employees. They we
wearing BAE Systems t-shirts. And another was an employee of HMAS Cairns. Is this
appropriate??? No, this is not appropriate!

Queensland Education guidelines ban sponsorship and other promotional activities by
certain sectors deemed inappropriate. These include the tobacco industry and the
weapons industry.

BAE System is the world’s seventh largest weapons manufacturer. U.K. company BAE
Systems manufactures the M109 howitzer, a 155mm mobile artillery system that the
Israeli military has been using extensively, firing tens of thousands of 155mm shells into
the Gaza Strip.

Some of these shells are white phosphorus bombs, the use of which is forbidden in
densely populated civilian areas and potentially amounts to a war crime.
BAE also manufactures electronic missile launching kits and other components for
Israel’s F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets, which the Israeli Air Force has used extensively
in all of its attacks on Gaza, including in 2023.

International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC)
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel has likely committed
genocide and its investigation is ongoing. When there is a likelihood of genocide,
national governments who are a Party to the ICJ must take steps to prevent genocide.
It follows that universities and other institutions in those countries must also take steps
to prevent genocide including not collaborating with weapons corporations who are
arming Israel.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has recommended arrest
warrants be issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of
Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes. Israeli agencies Mossad, Shin Bet and others have
been surveilling and harassing the Chief Prosecutor and former Chief Prosecutor of the
ICC for the past nine years ( https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-have-waged
9-year-war-against-icc-tapping-its-communications/ ) The US has also campaigned to
intimidate the ICC so it will not issue the arrest warrants.

It is in this context of genocide and war crimes that JCU must reflect on and reconsider
its collaboration and partnership with BAE Systems which, aside from long-running
allegations of corruption, is a key supplier of weapons systems to Israel.

BAE Systems weapons corporation supplies the Israeli military with a wide variety of
weapons, including components for combat aircraft, munitions, missile launching kits,
and armored vehicles. BAE technologies are also integrated into Israel’s main weapon
systems, including fighter jets, drones, and warships. These weapons are often gifted to
Israel through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Financing program.

For years, these weapons have repeatedly been used against Palestinian civilians,
resulting in numerous casualties as well as mass destruction of homes and civilian
infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water and electric systems. These
attacks include war crimes that Israel has committed during several major military
offensives against the Gaza Strip, which has been illegally blockaded since 2007:
2022 (“Operation Breaking Dawn”): Within three days of an unprovoked offensive, Israel
killed at least 33 Palestinians, including 17 civilians. Evidence of war crimes was
recorded by Amnesty International.

2021 (“Operation Guardian of the Walls”): During this assault, Israel killed at least 261
Palestinians, including 67 children and 41 women. At least half of the fatalities were
civilians, and more than 2,200 additional Palestinians were injured. Evidence of war
crimes and possible crimes against humanity was published by Palestinian human
rights organizations Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights;
Amnesty International; and Human Rights Watch. The International Criminal Court
announced that it will examine these cases.

2014 (“Operation Protective Edge”): During this 50-day assault, Israel killed at least
2,131 Palestinians, at least 1,473 of whom were civilians, including 501 children and
257 women. At least 11,000 Palestinians were wounded, including 3,374 children.
Evidence of war crimes was published by Palestinian human rights organizations Al-Haq
and Al Mezan; Israeli organization B’Tselem; Amnesty International; and Human Rights
Watch.

2008–2009 (“Operation Cast Lead”): During this 22-day assault, Israel killed at least
1,385 Palestinians, including at least 308 children, and wounded at least 5,000 more.
The majority of casualties were civilians. Evidence of war crimes was published by the
UN’s Fact-Finding Mission, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.
JCU must divest from weapons corporations linked to the ongoing genocide and war
crimes in Gaza/Palestine, such as BAE SYSTEMS, or JCU must be regarded as complicit
in the violations of international humanitarian law – ie genocide, war crimes and ethnic
cleansing.

We call on James Cook University to

Cease and desist from organising ‘technology workshops’ aimed at primary
school and secondary school students that are in any way related to weapons
corporations or the military.
Divest and sever all ties with BAE Systems (corrupt) weapons corporation
Publicly disclose the entire investment portfolio of James Cook University
Adopt a resolution not to invest in, or partner with, any weapons corporation but
rather invest in non-violent industries and corporations which can contribute to
humankind in a positive way.

Sincerely,
Geoff Holland on behalf of World Peace Now ॐ (since 2014)
Margie Pestorius on behalf of Wage Peace – Disrupt War

Spotlight on Robotics in the Bush

Lil interviews a teacher from regional NSW – proving that STEM education doesn’t need to cost us our integrity.

#DemilitariseEducation

Spotlight on UNSW

Lil Barto interviews Midhat – student organiser fighting against militarism and towards global liberation at the University of New South Wales.

How did you come to be involved in organising? What’s your activist origin story? And what do you feel like it’s taught you so far?

I’ve been involved in organising through Solidarity Australia’s Sydney branch since January. As a Shia Muslim who grew up surrounded by stories of resistance, of standing up against injustice, emulating the mission of Imam Hussain – the grandson of the prophet who was killed in Karbala, Iraq fighting for justice – I knew I had to also make that my fight. I have to leave this world better than I found it. My interest in political theory early on in my teenage years helped guide my decision on my degree at UNSW, which is a bachelor of politics, philosophy and economics. My socialist politics were able to develop as I challenged my ideas through debate and essay. In saying that, I hadn’t had the opportunity to materialise my political theory into praxis. Hanging out with the Solidarity comrades helped direct my political conclusions, which grew and changed and I got more involved in activism.

One example of this was when there were plans for an all-in-loosely-dubbed ‘direct action only’ group that was beginning to form in the wake of October 7, and a few months into the re-invigoration of the Palestine movement in Sydney. One of the debates central to the group’s tentative formation was how the leadership should be structured, considering this was an collation of many existing Palestine and activist groups. One camp was for a Palestinian and Muslim leadership council that guided the decisions of the group and had veto power to reject decision. The other camp was for an open democratic environment where decisions aren’t directed by misguided identity politics—the Palestine movement is a call for a movement that can challenge imperialism and capitalism, systems that affect everyone. Despite being a staunch materialist and pretty well versed in socialist politics and Marxist theories, it wasn’t until I had to confront this situation and choose a camp that I realised there is still much to learn. Because of course we need open democratic organising! With the clarity of hindsight, this seems like an obvious conclusion but the fact that it wasn’t meant I still has much ahead of me- and boy was that a realisation to reckon with.

So can you tell me about what’s been going on at UNSW lately?

Midhat on the megaphone at a campus rally

After I became an official Solidarity member and began building Palestine actions, me and a few comrades opened UNSW Students Against War as a group on UNSW Kensington campus. Our first action was rallying outside of where UNSW had shamefully invited the Minster for the Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, to inaugurate a ‘nuclear innovation hub’ –

funded by the $380 Billion AUKUS deal. Pat Conroy himself was at the table in Washington when the details were being discussed and finalised. UNSW has ties with weapons companies like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Quickstep, involving students in the process of developing IP and research to sell to Israel. The funding of these projects, which allowed for the opening of facilities like the Nuclear Innovation Hub in February this year, comes from the $380 billion AUKUS deal, and its associated militarisation of universities. UNSW also has academic partnerships with Israeli universities, like the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which by way of their ‘Havazalot Program’ hosts training sessions for IDF soldiers on stolen Palestinian land.

My activity was centralised at UNSW, stalling every day amidst the short UNSW semesters, sectarianism we faced from other groups and a chronically de-politicised campus. We soldiered on – pushing for why we need students involved in the Palestine movement, why workers who have the potential to seize control of production should care about Palestine. I saw that come to fruition as my comrades got arrested at the ZIM rallies in Port Botany, the repression we faced from security at USYD and UNSW, having our posters torn down and thrown threats of suspension (two which actually carried through and my comrades were banned from campus), during the encampment the smears of mainstream media, threats from management, internal sectarianism and so much more.

And, beyond the obvious connection to the genocide in Palestine, what do you think the broader implications of a militarised education system are?

I think it would be a mistake to think that militarisation is new; it’s built into the makeup of universities as bourgeoisie institutions who serve the interests of capital. It’s through this apparatus that they normalise internships at Thales, or promoting joining weapons research by plastering 5 year old children with adverts, promising a life of prosperity and innovation. It’s a signal of capitalism falling into further crisis and the rise of fascism. No one wants to sing up to the military so let’s push weapons development. Let’s put tax payer money into furthering ourselves in the nuclear industry and not towards public housing or actual education or healthcare amidst the housing and cost of living crisis. We understand this sort of imperialism, so it’s our job to push that argument to workers and students.

It’s been fabulous talking to you Midhat, I’ll give you the last word – how would you like to sign off?

It’s been demanding work but it’s a fight we must continue, if ever want to see a free Palestine – if we ever want to free ourselves.

From Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada!

Step 1: Change the policy

There are over twenty programs operating in Australian schools which have ties to weapons companies, wouldn’t it be great if the Department of Education banned them?

We think so too, and that’s precisely where we started.

Unfortunately, because this sort of thing is managed at the state level, that means that a policy change would be needed in each state and territory individually. When we came to this work, only the ACT had a policy that recommended against engaging in industry partnerships, sponsorships, or other arrangements with weapons companies (it actually says “armaments” which we found delightfully old fashioned).

On the bright side, there is precedent for such a policy, as certain industries are already banned in most states from having any “commercial relationships” with schools. These include tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and in some places, junk food. So thankfully for us (and for the children), we have already decided as a society that certain industries simply have no place in schools. Seems like a no-brainer to add weapons companies to that list right?

Now it starts to get tricky. Most of us who have been involved in grass roots activism before are probably familiar with two main types of campaign – the kind where you are trying to get a corporation to do or cease doing something, and the kind where you are trying to get the Government to do or cease doing something. But Departmental policies are not passed by Parliament, for all the world they seem to just spring into being fully formed – and it is not always clear who even has the authority, let alone the responsibility, to change or update them.

Cut to the annual national meeting of the Teachers Federation, July 2023. There is excitement in the air because everyone knows that a large anti-AUKUS motion will be put to the floor in the afternoon session. Who can say whether Department apparatchiks knew this and made a move to try to clear the air, but we received the news that morning that NSW had amended their sponsorships policy to add weapons companies to the prohibited industries list!

Queensland and Victoria soon followed, making these weapons-affiliated programs in breech of policy in all of the Eastern states of the mainland (best believe we’re coming for Tassie next!). This will be particularly awkward for iSTEM, an initiative of the Department itself.

While we harbour no illusions the campaign will continue to ensure that these policy developments are enforced, the Eastern states are home to roughly 80% of the continent’s population – and we now have policy in our tool kit for fighting the influence of the military industrial complex in the classroom.

Disarm Australia

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