Hundreds of protesters rallied in Perth on Saturday to express outrage at transphobic comments made by the recently elected lord mayor, Basil Zempilas. Less than ten days into his term, Zempilas denied the existence of trans people on talkback radio station 6PR, saying: “If you’ve got a penis, mate, you’re a bloke. If you’ve got a vagina, you’re a woman. Game over”. He continued to ridicule trans people, offering $100 vouchers to any who called in to share their thoughts. 
Prior to becoming mayor, Zempilas made a name for himself as a television presenter and radio shock jock. In a bigoted, pro-business election campaign he promised to remove homeless people from the CBD, by force if necessary. 
Speakers at the protest denounced the undemocratic nature of the mayoral election, in which business owners have twice the voting weight of individuals. Zempilas won with 1,855 votes (29 percent), which is approximately a fifth of the number of people who have now signed a petition calling for him to resign. The rally called for his immediate resignation and for his salary to be donated to TransFolk of WA, a support service for trans people. 
Speakers from the front criticised the figures such as Zempilas for using their positions to normalise transphobia and encourage the far right. They addressed the structural discrimination facing LGBTI people and the way this leads to greater violence against them, as well as higher rates of self-harm and suicide. The ALP state government was also criticised for its lack of attention to LGBTI. It has failed to abolish the WA Gender Reassignment Board as it promised to do prior to its election, and has also scrapped funding for Inclusive Education WA, a professional development initiative to educate teachers about LGBTI issues in schools.
Rally organiser Jacqueline Blackburn pointed out that Zempilas’ comments are “part of a right-wing campaign against transgender people and LGBTI people more broadly that is actively attacking and chipping away at people’s civil rights across the world”. 
The federal Liberal government has been trying to pass a religious discrimination bill that will allow businesses and institutions to deny crucial services to LGBTI people and women. It makes LGBTI people vulnerable in their workplaces and schools. Most recently, One Nation’s Mark Latham has been pushing an education bill in New South Wales that would ban all school staff from teaching students about gender fluidity. 
But across Australia, people have been fighting back against these attacks and organising opposition at every turn. As Blackburn told the crowd: “From Stonewall and Mardi Gras and the 78ers to Equal Marriage to today, we have only advanced the struggle for liberation by coming out into the streets like this and taking a stand in our numbers against dickheads like Basil Zempilas”. 
The rally rejected Zempilas’ PR stunt apology, in which he merely claimed that “for a brief moment” he “forgot” he was the Perth mayor. One protester said that Zempilas’ comments were “very degrading to people and especially with suicide rates high within the transgender community, he should be doing a lot more than a fake apology in the news”. 
Another expressed concern about the precedent these comments would set if they went unopposed: “Where does it stop? If he is able to get away with being blatantly transphobic and awful comments on the radio, what else can he get away with? Ableist comments? Comments about Indigenous peoples?”
As protesters marched to Council House, they chalked messages demanding trans rights and Basil’s resignation on the pavement. Later, the city council fountain was flooded with soap. 
The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1443950272476858/">next protest for LGBTI rights in Perth</a> will be on 28 November.

Jade Mawby

Perth protesters say screw Basil Zempilas

Perth’s Crown Casino will host the inaugural Western Australian Indo-Pacific Defence Conference this month, featuring guest speakers from two of the world’s biggest weapons manufacturers, state and federal politicians and military researchers.
State minister for defence issues Paul Papalia said the conference will provide an opportunity to promote “our capabilities and [harness] the state’s competitive edge to maximise our contribution to national and international defence business opportunities”.
In other words, it will provide an opportunity for more Western Australian businesses to profit from death and destruction on a global scale. It will also strengthen ties between weapons manufacturers and universities. 
Convened by state government body Defence West, the conference has been endorsed by all four public universities in the state. Both Liberal and Labor politicians are speaking at the event.
The National Union of Students’ Books not Bombs campaign has called a protest against the conference. “We are protesting to stand up for high quality, fully funded education for all, to oppose the militarisation of our universities, and to prevent the Australian government from succeeding in its plan to make the country one of the top 10 arms manufacturers in the world”, Books not Bombs activist Nicole Mcewen told Red Flag.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has endorsed the campaign and condemned the undermining of academic freedom that has occurred as a result of universities accepting private funding from arms corporations and the defence department.
Prominent attendees at the conference will be premier Mark McGowan, chief of navy Michael Noonan, Lockheed Martin Australia CEO Vince di Pietro and BAE Systems Australia chair Ian Watt. 
Lockheed Martin and BAE are the world’s largest and third largest arms producers respectively. Both companies sell weapons to despotic regimes, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, making them complicit in war crimes. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have killed more than 10,000 civilians in Yemen since their military intervention began in 2015. 
The Australian government has not only failed to condemn the atrocities committed by Saudi forces in Yemen, but has increased Australian arms exports to Saudi Arabia. Documents obtained by independent news site New Matilda under Freedom of Information laws confirm that, in 2016-17, 16 licences were granted for the export of military equipment from Australia to Saudi Arabia. In December 2016, then minister for defence industry Christopher Pyne visited Riyadh to spruik for more Australian defence contracts. 
Lockheed Martin is also complicit in Israeli war crimes, having sold weapons to the apartheid state since 1971. Recently, its teargas canisters have been used against Palestinian protesters, wounding many and even killing an 8-month-old baby. Both these companies have partnerships with various Australian universities.
Friends of Palestine WA convenor Nick Everett told Red Flag that the group would support the protest to oppose military ties between the Australian government and apartheid Israel.
“Last October Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a memorandum of understanding to increase military ties”, he said. 
“It focused on developing cyber security technologies to combat what the racist fear-monger Turnbull called in the Sydney Morning Herald ‘militant Islamist terror’.” 
In January, Turnbull unveiled a new “defence export strategy”, setting out plans to make Australia one of the world’s top 10 weapons exporters within the next decade. 
While education, social services and welfare have all recently faced cuts, no expense will be spared pursuing the Coalition’s military goals. 
Australian universities now play a vital role in the military-industrial complex. Starved of public funding, universities are increasingly becoming laboratories for the research and development of weapons used to kill and maim civilians. 
The University of Western Australia, in partnership with arms manufacturer Thales, conducts research into maritime weaponry to improve “undersea warfare effectiveness.” The university also received $3 million from the federal government to research drones alongside Scientific Aerospace. 
Curtin University has links with both Thales and Lockheed Martin, with which it researches and develops tracking technology. 
On October 30, students will protest against the universities’ role in furthering death and destruction.
For more information on the protest, visit the Books not Bombs Facebook page.

Perth protesters say screw Basil Zempilas

Perth to play host to merchants of death

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