Kerrod Trott 
The Brisbane Peace community will rally outside the Hilton Hotel Brisbane at 11 am, Friday 18 March, as Defence Minister Peter Dutton speaks on the opportunities for businesses to “enter the national security supply chain’, in a concerning trend of militarisation.
Dutton will address the $219 a head luncheon on his recently announced intention to provide a naval base for visiting US and UK nuclear powered and potentially nuclear-armed submarines.
The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) is greatly concerned by this war trajectory Australia is on, the spiralling spending on military hardware and the AUKUS pact.
The Brisbane peace community is calling on the Government to pull back from military spending in support of the US foreign policy. The Australian people need money directed towards the environment, health, housing and education.
IPAN spokesperson Annette Brownlie said: “The annual defence budget is now well over 2% GDP; however, it is just a part of the overall spending required as a result of Australia’s partnership in the AUKUS pact with ever-increasing amounts of money allocated for nuclear-powered submarines which according to Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) will cost close to $200B. The building of a naval base on the east coast will be another $10B”
“The recent catastrophic flooding on the east coast highlights how the governments priorities are out of touch with both reality and community expectations who are well aware of the floods and bushfires as consequences of worsening climate change.”
“The serious shortages of funding, building materials and workers to assist those who have lost all their worldly possessions in recent floods is at odds with Mr Dutton’s pursuit of a 20,000 increase in ADF personnel and spending on preparations for yet more wars.”
More info: ipan.australia@gmail.com
www.ipan.org.au
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