Legitimising military intervention in domestic terrorist incidents, refusing to become a party to the latest UN nuclear weapon ban treaty, and increasing arms exports to boost employment are among the recent offensive policies of Australia…

The latest example of Australia’s increasingly “hawkish” security policies is the Turnbull Government’s ambitious plan to make the country one of the world’s top 10 weapons exporters within the next decade. Australia is the 20th largest arms exporter with an annual $1.6bn in defence exports. As maintained by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the $3.8bn Defence Export Facility will provide the finance local companies need to sell their defence equipment overseas. Besides financial support, new institutions will be established for promotion and coordination of defence industry products. Seeking to increase the amount of sales to the USA, the UK, Canada and New Zealand, Canberra also aims at opening up to Asia and the Middle East markets.

Dark Past…