POLICE numbers at a Perth defence industry conference have been criticised as “through the roof”, amid claims WA is being drawn into an AUKUS-fuelled military build-up.
Greens MLC Sophie McNeill attended a protest held by a coalition of 14 community and political organisations outside the expo this week and said the scale of security was difficult to justify.
“There are just like dozens and dozens and dozens of these public order police,” Ms McNeill said.
“There’s three cops for every protestor.
“We learned last week that the government is spending $11.5 million of your money – of taxpayers’ money – on security for the Land Forces Expo.
“We are in a cost of living crisis… and yet the WA Labor Party has been spending millions of dollars of your money on security for this Defense Expo.
“This urgently must be reviewed with funds redirected to those who need it most, not on security for multinational arms dealers.”
Stop AUKUS WA said the conference itself reflected a broader trend toward militarisation in WA and Australia’s defence posture.
• With no arrests or incidents, protestors say a heavy police presence at a defence expo was expensive and over-the-top. Photo supplied
“We view IODS as the Indian Ocean regional biannual spruik of militarism and the latest weapons of war and destruction, China fear mongering, deluding us the US is our saviour and; a trade fair for the latest weapons of war,” the group said.
The group also pointed to major defence investment and future basing arrangements.
“The conference comes ahead of the imminent arrival of more than 1,200 US and UK navy personnel and their families in the Rockingham area from 2027.”
“AUKUS, at an estimated $368 billion, further embeds us into the US war machine.”
Stop AUKUS WA and WA Anti War Collective co-event organiser Leonie Lundy said recent announcements and conferences were reinforcing a shift toward a more militarised state.
“[Defence industries minister] Paul Papalia coined the phrase, the Western Defence Force Hub,” she said, adding she’d not heard of the concept until it coincided with the defence conference.
Ms Lundy said the direction of policy represented a significant change in the state’s priorities that had happened without input from voters.
“Selling our land, Aboriginal land – always was, always will be – selling it out for… replacing coal with with ammunition and missiles.
“It’s an insult to the people, seeing as it was meant to be a green just transition.”
She said the implications of AUKUS and expanded defence infrastructure were only beginning to be understood by the public.
“I think once people realise that it is, number one, further entrenching Australia into the US war machine… they are going to start hopefully waking up and and putting it all together to realise we are being taken for one giant ride.
“We did have a precedent a while back last September with the announcement regarding the Henderson Defence precinct, in terms of this growing militarism, which is a major concern across board for our society.”
Ms Lundy also linked the developments to broader concerns about nuclear risk and long-term strategic dependence.
“Further exacerbating the possibility of Australia becoming a nuclear target with the AUKUS submarines rotating through Sterling. What it means is we end up basically being an access base.”
“If we don’t ever get subs… we will just be an outpost base for the US subs.”
by STEVE GRANT