16th of May 2024, 6:11pm
Legislative Council of Victoria | Spring Street, Melbourne
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan):
Unlike Mr Davis and Ms Crozier, I would actually like to talk about Elbit Systems and its relationship with the government. I know it is a wild and crazy notion to talk to the subject of the petition, but what the hell. People are doubtless aware of the words of Shakespeare:
Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war.
It was Marc Anthony’s bloodthirsty rally. It is fair to say that the dogs of war are having their day, roaming unconstrained and causing havoc across the planet, But who gives those dogs of war their fangs? Who quietly feeds the hundreds of dirty wars being waged around the world? Who profits from the horrific carnage we see daily? It is the merchants of war, and Elbit Systems is one of them.
Elbit are the makers of such hideous and prohibited weapons as artillery shells and bombs containing white phosphorus, designed to burn human flesh off the bone; flechette projectiles, designed not simply to penetrate the body but to pass through it; and cluster munitions, small bomblets that litter the ground and kill civilians sometimes years after hostilities have ceased – horrific weapons that cause unspeakable damage to civilian populations.
So horrific are they that the board of Australia’s Future Fund, our sovereign wealth fund, chaired by that notorious peacenik and former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello, deemed Elbit to be an excluded investment. Elbit were placed on an exclusion list by Future Fund because of their unethical behaviour, and that occurred only months after the then Andrews Labor government revealed that it had formed a partnership with Elbit Systems.
Elbit has long been involved in the Israeli suppression of Palestinians, even before the current conflict. Its surveillance systems and drones are used to block the movement of Palestinians between Jerusalem and the West Bank, and now we see Elbit-manufactured drones and smart bombs used to massacre the Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
As this petition notes, their drones were used in the murder of Australian Zomi Frankcom and the six other World Central Kitchen aid workers. The death toll in Gaza has reached 33,000 Palestinians, and over 72,000 have been injured. This is the work of the Israel Defense Forces. The UN Human Rights Council – another Bolshevik organisation – reporting on the unrelenting assault on Gaza, found that there were grounds to indicate that the crime of genocide was being perpetrated by the IDF on the people of Gaza. That genocide is being realised through the handiwork of firms such as Elbit Systems.
Ms Crozier says we get more from Elbit. Well, can I say the major acquisition from Elbit was their defence system, which our federal government cancelled this year. They are one of the companies responsible for the burnt, mutilated Palestinian civilians we see nightly on our TV screens. The Victorian government’s partnership with Elbit Systems –
Georgie Crozier (Southern Metropolitan):
What about those poor Israelis that are still hostages?
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan):
This is not about the – anyway, we will come back to that one. The Victorian government’s partnership with Elbit Systems, investments –
Members interjecting.
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan):
Yes, thank you for that. The Victorian government’s partnership with Elbit Systems, investments made on behalf of the Victorian people, implicates us all in these war crimes. So we simply ask: what is the Victorian government doing on our behalf? Why is Victoria in partnership with a company like Elbit? We have no idea what this partnership entails. Where is the transparency? Why must the details of this partnership be kept secret from the people of Victoria? Is this the sort of company Victoria wants to invest in? As signatories to the UN genocide convention, we have a responsibility to prevent genocide, and we as parliamentarians have an obligation to speak about that. And let us be clear: this is not an attack on the people of Israel. This is not an attack based on anti-Semitism. We support a peaceful resolution between Israel and Palestine and a sustainable two-party solution.
Legalise Cannabis Victoria wholeheartedly supports this petition. We call on the Victorian government to end its partnership with Elbit Systems and to publish its memorandum of understanding with the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The Victorian government should not be a party to nurturing the insatiable dogs of war and enriching their merchants.
[Ends]
