Australia’s struggle between industry and empathy
- Bryce Pietsch
- Apr 11
- 5 min read
As Queensland’s defence industry booms, questions emerge about where Australia's weapons end up—especially amid global conflicts like Israel-Gaza. With billions at stake and growing public concern, this piece explores the uneasy tension between economic ambition and ethical responsibility.
[This story was originally written in 2024]
When diplomacy fails, the streets run red, morality bleeds grey, and the money remains green.
There is no summary which could do the 76-year-old Israel-Palestine conflict justice, and there is no side which is entirely in the right. However, the discourse surrounding it has made a dogpile, with politicians, corporations and everyday people scrambling through the grey to find moral high ground. And while this is the case in many countries around the world, Australia proves to be stuck between a rock and a hard place due to its growing defence industry.
The Queensland Government’s '10 year Defence Industry Roadmap' announced in 2018 by the Labor government, aims to make Queensland the “frontline” of the defence industry by 2028. The goal being to increase the revenue of the already 4.2 billion industry to 7 billion. This builds on former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's 2016 White Paper positions, which, along with the recent AUKUS announcement, have solidified the militaristic direction the country is headed. The consequence of a weapons-based economy is that Israel, a country under allegations of genocide, becomes a great business partner.
Australian Progressives party General Executive, Edward Corral, was quick to point this out when speaking at a protest in King George Square in May. “Queensland is one of the strongest supporters of the defence industry and directly supplies the munitions and tools to Israel in their genocide of Gaza” he said.
The state is host to many arms manufacturers. Very few are confirmed to be supplying Israel,
but one that is known to be doing so is Ferra Engineering. Ferra Engineering is a key part in the supply chain of the F-35 fighter jet, and they manufacture over 100 components. One of these components allows for the mounting of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), which converts regular bombs into so-called ‘smart’ bombs. These are being used by Israeli variants of the F-35 aircraft in their lethal bombing campaign and have contributed heavily to their kill count of over 35,000 civilians.
The operations of these companies contradict a statement made by Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, who in a press conference last November denied that
Australia trades weapons to Israel. "Australia has not supplied weapons to Israel since the start of the Hamas-Israeli conflict," she said.
Recently published data from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) showed that exports to Israel listed as 'Arms & Ammunition' were valued at $1.6 million since October of last year, with trade stopping at the start of March.
The Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, addressed this discrepancy by saying that these
exports were to be 'worked on' by Israeli manufacturers and were not used in warfare. "Most of the exports that have been approved since October 7 are for items which have gone to Israel to be worked on and then returned to Australia as part of our own," he said in an interview with the ABC.
published on their own website they claim that weapons trade to Israel could be higher due to
technicalities of what is considered a weapon through our trade laws.
The DFAT definition of arms and ammunition is "weapons, ammunition, military vehicles or
equipment, paramilitary equipment, and the spare parts and accessories for any of those things". However, the Australian Sanctions Office (ASO) considers whether an item fits within this category by measuring whether it has intrinsic use as a weapon, meaning that things such as engines or reinforced steel do not count as they have dual use.
The Greens have been the most vocal critics against Israel, and they have been weaponizing the inconsistencies made by the Queensland Labor Government along with supporting protests against the conflict. Greens MP for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather, took shots at the Labour government for their contempt against the movement at the same rally on May 10. “Labour knows that there are 600,000 children in Rafah right now pinned down by the Israeli Military,” he said.
“The political establishment continues to attack and defame and discredit this peaceful
movement against genocide.”
Max Chander-Mather is not alone in his pro-Palestine crusade, with the Greens political party matching his sentiment. Greens MP for Ryan, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, lent her support for the pro-Palestine encampment on the University of Queensland's (UQ) St Lucia campus in the form of a sausage sizzle.
UQ's Gaza solidarity camp was among a slew of other university encampments that had risen up since February, with a storm of controversy following. The UQ encampment proves to be a
unique case due to their specific goal of forcing the university to shut down their Boeing research centre along with cutting ties with its 14 other weapons partnerships.
The specific target of Boeing was made due to the companies continued support of Israel, with the Israeli Defence Force being an avid customer of Boeing’s F-15 fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters, both of which have been used in the current bombing efforts. Boeing's defence, space and security president, Ted Colbert, even met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February to discuss further partners.
UQ is a unique case among universities due to their transparent pivot towards the weapons
industry following the opening of the Boeing research centre in 2016. The university makes its stance clear in an expert panel, “is Queensland defence smart?”. One panelist, Associate
Professor of International Relations, Andrew Ryan, expressed the university’s goal. “We want as many of our graduates in the national intelligence community,” he said.
Boeing's involvement nestles in the cracks of studies even outside of engineering. The Brain Institute, created to study Alzheimer's, also maps neural pathways for Boeing's drone research. Even the Arts and Humanities students aren’t left behind, with the ‘Ursula Project’ which uses speculative fiction to pitch new weaponry.
The Gaza solidarity camp opposes this through continual protests, which often involve blocking students from classes. Their efforts culminated in the third student general meeting in UQ’s history being called to discuss the topic of UQ’s weapons research partnerships. The topics discussed were whether UQ should sever ties with companies that supply the Israeli Defence Forces, shut down the Boeing Centre and financially divest from Israel. The meeting was slated for 6pm on May 30, and the courtyard had to be evacuated after an anonymous bomb threat was called just before 5pm.
Engineering student, Julian Steyn, was in attendance and found he did not support the shutdown of the Boeing Centre, although refusing to voice his opinion at the time. “They aren’t going to shut down the Boeing centre because of them, it’s far too expensive, and it also does research in the civilian sector such as cabin disease transmission,” he said.
Approximately 10 Zionists attended the meeting to oppose it, however, they were flushed out as an overwhelming 1,500 students voted in favour. The university has yet to come up with a
response; however, with such a great success, the Gaza solidarity camp disbanded on June 1.
With a minor victory for anti-war activism, the students pack up, the universities deliberate, and the government refines their rhetoric. However, the bombs are still dropping, deals are being made and, as always, the money remains green.
Bryce is a third-year journalism student at QUT with a passion for diving down the rabbit hole of investigative journalism. With a keen interest in politics, foreign policy, and activism.
He aims to highlight the often-overlooked local impact of global events. Outside of writing, he enjoys alternative music, reading and the arts.
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