Defence minister says expanded industry could create jobs, and government’s ambition is to ‘send a lot more weapons overseas to appropriate countries’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Christopher Pyne has committed not to export weapons “willy-nilly” if Australia followed through on his ambition to become a major arms exporter, plans which were attacked as exporting death and profiting from bloodshed.

The defence industry minister said Australia could export “all sorts of arms” to increase jobs, including vessels, offshore patrol vessels, remote warfare systems, surveillance, sonar, radar and potentially frigates.



“We are doing some of that,” Pyne told the ABC. “My ambition is to enormously increase that capacity and send a lot more weapons overseas to appropriate countries and appropriate places of course.



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“We simply wouldn’t do so willy-nilly. We have a particular process for that.”

But Pyne’s plans were slammed by World Vision Australia chief advocate Tim Costello, saying the government had cut humanitarian aid which saved lives while discussing the merits of becoming a major weapons manufacturer and exporter.

“The government says this is an export and investment opportunity, but we would be exporting death and profiting from bloodshed,” Costello said. “Is that what we want Australia to be known for?

“There is only one purpose in making a weapon and that is to kill someone with it.

“Do we really want that to be what people think of when they see the brand ‘made in Australia’?”

Costello said the Syrian war – in its seventh year – could not have lasted for more than a year without armaments profiteering. As a result, there had been more than 300,000 people killed, including thousands of children, 13.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 6.3 million people internally displaced and five million people turned into refugees.

“Defence industry minister Christopher Pyne says he wants Australia to become a major arms exporter on par with Britain, France and Germany and use exports to ‘cement relationships’ with countries in volatile regions such as the Middle East.

“Is it really a good idea to sell weapons in a volatile region?

“Minister Pyne also says we would only sell weapons to ‘appropriate countries’, and would not export weapons ‘willy-nilly’, as though weapons never fall into the wrong hands.”

Pyne said an expanded arms industry could create jobs and investment in Australia given the country already had skilled workers, an advanced manufacturing base and the technological capability.

He said the expansion could add to the $50bn submarine contract awarded to French shipbuilder DCNS. Pyne said while Australia needed the French company to help with some expertise, the submarines would be built in Australia.

Pyne said by the end of the current contracts, Australia would have built 12 submarines, 12 offshore patrol vessels, nine frigates and 21 patrol vessels for the Pacific. He said current contracts are worth $200bn over a decade.

“We have completely reenergised, in a renaissance for ship-building industry in Australia, and they were decisions being made by this government,” he said.

“As part of that massive buildup of capability in the defence industry, we then need to look at exporting that capability because it brings treasure, investment and jobs to our economy here in Australia.”

Pyne said Australia could create a weapons export industry if the country overcame its reflexive response that it could not be done.

“What we have to overcome, with great respect, is that instantaneous and reflexive response that Australians sometimes have that we can’t do it here,” he said.

“We can do it here, we are a great manufacturing nation and a great export nation.”

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On Monday, Malcolm Turnbull will announce plans to make it easier for defence to back up police in domestic terrorist incidents. The move comes following a review, for the first time since 2005, of domestic counter-terrorism incidents.

Pyne said the immediate responders to domestic terrorist incidents were always police but defence officers could be embedded in police forces and defence could also provide training in counter-terrorism.

The government plans to change the law that requires state and territory governments to exhaust their capacity to respond to domestic terror events before they can ask for military help.

The plan follows a coronial report into the Lindt cafe siege, which found police should have stormed the cafe as soon as Man Haron Monis began shooting.