Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition

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Press Releases

• 17 Sept 2011:
  Bringing War To Our Doorstep
• 16 Sept 2011:
  All the way with the US again!
• 15 Sept 2011:
  Stephen Smiths announcement on US troops to be stationed in Australia
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Current Campaigns

• Cut Military Spending
• Talisman Sabre 2011
• National Missile Defence/
  Pine Gap
• Guam

News Items

• Eisenhower's worst fears came true. We invent enemies to buy the bombs

Articles

Jake Lynch:

• Bringing It Home
• How the Special Relationship Works
• The Many & The Fugue
• The Phantom Menace - Labor's Defence Review
• Peace Convergence Video Report by Jake Lynch

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  to Bush and Blair
• Stop the Wall Petition

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The Arms Race Intrudes on Paradise by Gloria Steinem

New York Times. August 6, 2011

THERE are some actions for which those of us alive today will be judged in centuries to come. The only question will be: What did we know and when did we know it?

I think one judgment-worthy action may be what you and I do about the militarization of Jeju Island, South Korea, in service of the arms race.

Jeju isnt called the most beautiful place on earth for nothing. Ancient volcanoes have become snow-covered peaks with pure mountain streams running down to volcanic beaches and reefs of soft coral. In between are green hills covered with wildflowers, mandarin orange groves, nutmeg forests, tea plantations and rare orchids growing wild; all existing at peace with farms, resorts and small cities. Unesco, the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization, has designated Jeju Island a world natural heritage site.

Now, a naval base is about to destroy a crucial stretch of the coast of Jeju, and will do this to dock and service destroyers with sophisticated ballistic missile defense systems and space war applications. China and South Korea have positive relations at the moment. But this naval base is not only an environmental disaster on an island less than two-thirds the size of Rhode Island, it may be a globally dangerous provocation besides.

Residents of Gangjeong, the village that is to be home to this base, have been living in tents along the endangered coastline, trying to stave off the dredging and bulldozing. In a vote several years ago at a village meeting, residents overwhelming opposed the base.

Theyve tried to block construction with lawsuits and pleas for a proper environmental impact study. Theyve been fined, beaten, arrested and imprisoned. Theyve gone on hunger strikes, chained themselves to anything available, invited tourists in to see whats at stake, established Web sites and won support from global peace organizations. Members of the no base campaign, including children, camp out along the shore behind high walls erected around the site to conceal the protests. Police officers patrol outside. This has been going on for more than four years.

They need your help.

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Dr Hannah Middleton discusses with Jake Lynch the implications of Australia's massive military budget and argues for the benefits of alternative ways of spending the $87 million a day currently squandered on Australia's war machine.

The Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition supports efforts to dismantle our excessive military spending and to develop a peace economy that will prioritise people over profits, create more jobs and fund much needed public health, education, housing and environmental programs.

Militarism runs deep in Australian society. Many companies are connected to the military. Multinational and US arms corporations have offices in Australia and lobby to influence the government to buy their exorbitantly expensive weapons. In mid-2010, the Department of Defence announced programs costing $445 million to help local enterprises better integrate themselves in the global supply chain for the so-called big primes of the arms trade. State Governments compete among themselves to win defence contracts, offering arms corps advantageous deals and publicly financed facilities. Universities conduct military-related research and accept funding from arms manufacturers. It is the arms dealers who are the beneficiaries of Australias participation in US permanent war policies.

The Australian people are not beneficiaries -- excessive military spending makes us poorer, not safer.

It is time to stand up to the powerful elements in our society who profit from our huge military budgets. They are undermining our democracy and economy, damagng our environment and destroying thousands of lives in foreign countries such as Afghanistan.

Working together, we can motivate and empower a broad-based movement to educate, agitate and organise against excessive military spending.

It's time for us to get active and break the silence on the cost and "offensiveness" of Australia's military build-up!

Australian Facts and Figures

Australia is among the top military spenders per capita. This is not something to boast about! There are alternatives for example, well resourced public schools with better facilities and smaller classes to educate the citizens of the future; more beds in our public hospitals with more nurses with better working conditions, a sustainable environment, and much more. All this would be possible if Labor and Liberal Governments would listen to the people and cut military spending.

General Facts

• We spend $32 billion a year on the military.
• That is $87 million a day.
• That makes us the 14th biggest spender on the military in the world.
• We are 6th largest per capita spender on the military in the world.
• Australian military expenditure equals and sometimes surpasses what we spend federally on education.
• Australian military expenditure is 9 to 10 per cent of Federal Government outlays.
• Australian military expenditure is guaranteed to rise by 4 to 5 per cent each year for 20 years.

Specific Facts

• Australia has spent $10 billion on the war in Afghanistan - $1 billion a year plus an additional $1.6 billion for extra armour.
• Australia is buying 3 Aegis air warfare warships at over $2 billion each.
• Australia has recently acquired a fleet of 24 Super Hornet warplanes for $6.6 billion.
• Australia is purchasing 100 Joint Strike Fighters at a cost of over $16 billion. This aircraft involves controversial, highly complex technology and is still being developed. In late 2009, when the Government ordered its first installment (14 jets totaling $3.2 billion), less than 3 per cent of flight testing had been undertaken.
• Australia cannot staff its existing 6 Collins Class submarines but the 2009 Defence White Paper pushed for 12 new submarines (estimated to cost $30 to $40 billion).
• Australia plans to be the first country in the South East Asian region to acquire cruise missiles (said to be more than $0.5 million each). Not only will this appear threatening to our neighbours but it will put us in breach of a nuclear non-proliferation measure to which we subscribe, the 1987 Missile Technology Control Regime.

The Queensland Floods

The cost of Queenslands reconstruction after cyclone Yasi and the devastating floods is put at $5 billion. To pay for this, the Federal Government is cutting environmental programs, education programs and housing programs. It did not consider cutting the military budget. Every two years a joint Australian-American military exercise called Talisman Sabre takes place at Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland. It costs about $100 million. Talisman Sabre 2011 is planned for July this year, despite pleas from many people for it to be cancelled to protect flood affected land and to save money which could help rebuild the state.

Global Fact Sheet

Global military spending levels have climbed back to the heights they reached during the Cold War. After dropping substantially during the early 1990s, total world military spending in 2009 had reached $1.53 trillion (SIPRI, 2010).

This colossal sum of money would be sufficient to achieve the Millennium Development Goals five times over. It could be used to save lives, develop poor communities, protect the environment, to promote renewable energy sources and much more.

The government of the United States spends approximately $1 million every minute on military and war related costs.

• During the last year, the world spent 1,531 USD billion on the military
• Reducing child mortality and improving maternal health would cost USD 10 billion /year
• Ensuring environmental sustainability would cost USD 155.6 billion/year
• Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger would cost USD 102 billion/year
• Reducing child mortality and improve maternal health would cost USD 10 billion /year

The amount spent on French military equipment in one year would cover interventions directly aimed at achieving gender equality in low income countries for a whole year.

The amount the USA spends on military research and development in one year would be enough to cover interventions directly aimed at achieving gender equality in low income countries for five years.

Many more jobs

In the US, it has been found that each $1 billion of military expenditure created 8900 jobs, compared to 12,200 jobs for spending on clean energy, 14,000 jobs for health spending and 20,800 for education.

Almost 1 billion people are illiterate.

• In the developing world, one third of children do not complete four years of school.
• Half of the children in South Asia are undernourished.
• Half of the worlds population lack access to adequate sanitation.
• 1.7 billion people dont have safe water.

Comparisons between countries' GDP for health, education and the military.