Page 1203 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 4 May 2022
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Diplomats and their colleagues worked with the international banking system to cut Russia off and shared information across borders to identify targets to sanction individuals. This created a snowball effect as companies began to voluntarily stop operating in Russia. A Russian spokesperson has described this peaceful effort—one that does not involve the bloodshed of citizens, of children or the elderly—as “total war”. The impact of coordinated action cannot be overstated, yet none of it is possible without investment in the humans that carry out these negotiations, who have the cultural, language and interpersonal skills to create a consensus for effective action.
All of this was achieved with the support of Canberrans working in trade, aid and diplomacy. Those are real Canberrans too, because Canberra is the home of DFAT, of AusAID—workforces that the federal coalition government has neglected, undermined and underfunded to their lowest ever levels. It is their jobs that I am talking about also.
The Greens’ policy is clear on where taxpayers’ money needs to and should go. We do not need to be giving our taxpayers’ money as corporate handouts to private corporations to become arms dealers for nations with a chequered past of human rights abuses. The Australian government’s policy is to sell arms to anybody that will take them from us, without regard to the human cost. While the federal coalition is wasting money on corporate handouts to export arms, the Greens’ view is that this money can be used more effectively for more genuine development in our region, to address climate change and implement measures that will more effectively promote security, rather than propping up private corporations involved in the manufacture of weapons. As Winston Churchill, no stranger to war, stated:
Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.
We are talking about $300 billion over 10 years. Imagine the alternative uses we could put that money to. Just imagine what possibilities could be achieved. Rather than simply rolling out a line about how we need to buy a shiny piece of kit, just imagine for a moment what we could do for Australians with that money when we are talking about jobs in Canberra and more effectively protecting the wellbeing of ADF personnel. How could we more effectively spend this money?
All we have heard is jingoism and slogans from Mr Hanson about the importance of defence industry jobs, but no reflection on how Australia’s security can be maintained and improved. Mr Hanson, like many of his counterparts, is all about the shiny pieces of kit. Politicians on the hill seek the announcement and the photo opportunity next to that shiny piece of kit but totally fail to understand that there are many contributing factors to national security. Mr Hanson is taking just one of the fundamental inputs to operational capability and conflating that to equal our national security.
I am not saying that the defence industry is not a component of Australia’s security architecture; I am saying that it is one component and the architecture is far broader, more nuanced and complex than Mr Hanson seems capable of understanding. Mr Hanson is ignoring the other contributors to Australian security, ignoring the staff working in Foreign Affairs who provide the diplomatic channels and heft; ignoring
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