Perth Voice Interactive

STOP AUKUS WA was due to stage a peaceful protest at 11 am yesterday, Friday December 8, outside the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

The demonstration coincides with The Future of Defence in WA – AUKUS, Defence Industry and the UK’s role in the Indo-Pacific luncheon, featuring a keynote address by UK minister of state for Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

Stop AUKUS have raised concerns over the militarisation of Australian universities, citing Curtin University’s involvement in the AUKUS Workforce Alliance alongside NSW and Adelaide unis, aimed at providing skilled-up workers to build and maintain the subs.

Stop AUKUS say the military alliance with the US and UK aimed at “containing” China, labeling is a highly aggressive posture that threatens regional stability. 

Long-time anti-nuclear campaigner and former Senator Jo Vallentine said nuclear power was “never safe”.

“It is a fallacy to claim nuclear-powered submarines act as a deterrent,” Ms Vallentine.

National Union of Students member Phoebe Burrage said Universities should be publicly-funded institutions “geared towards the social good, rather than expanding Australia’s military capacity”.