Students march against war

The National Union of Students organised nationwide anti-war rallies on 9 August, demanding that the Albanese government break the AUKUS alliance and fund housing and welfare instead.

A recent survey by campaign group Everybody’s Home found that 80 percent of renters are in housing stress. Meanwhile, Commonwealth Bank recently posted a record $10.2 billion profit. Yet the Labor government has rejected calls to freeze rents, raise welfare payments above the poverty line or build adequate public housing. Instead, it’s spending $368 billion on nuclear-powered submarines. Our own universities are developing nuclear programs and weapons partnerships with major arms manufacturers.

In response, students marched on their campuses to take a stand against this warmongering. In Perth, 80 protested a recruitment centre for the Australian Defence Force. Western Australia will host nuclear submarines under the AUKUS deal, and UWA is hosting an “AUKUS masterclass” this month.

At the University of Adelaide, 50 rallied outside the defence building to protest the university’s extensive ties to the war industry. AUKUS submarines will be constructed in South Australia, and its universities are set to play a key role in developing the technology to facilitate them, including nuclear.

At the Melbourne rally, Dave Sweeney from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons spoke about the ongoing danger posed by the weapons-grade uranium Australia will acquire under this deal. The protest coincided with the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, in which tens of thousands of civilians were massacred by a nuclear bomb.

Sanne de Swart from Friends of the Earth said the submarines put a target on whichever Australian port hosts them, with disastrous consequences if they explode. She also criticised the Albanese government’s decision to accept a nuclear waste dump as part of the AUKUS deal, pointing out that this will likely be on Aboriginal land. The protests came as the Barngarla people of Kimba defeated an attempt to dump nuclear waste on their land.

Students also protested in Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Sydney and Wollongong.