Labor talks about Astra Aerolab being good for jobs and vital for defence. But Astra Aerolab is entirely about servicing the US, and a bumper business plan for weapons corporations. It will be one of the largest weapons manufacturing facilities and house the largest missile factory on the continent.
Astra Aerolab is a weapons' manufacturing hub under construction at Newcastle Airport. The airport is jointly owned by Newcastle and Port Stephens Councils. Newcastle Council has a policy which prohibits financial arrangements with the weapons industry but claims* they are immune from this policy because the airport is managed by a separate, albeit wholly owned, entity.
So far the only confirmed tenant at Astra Aerolab is Norwegian Weapon's company, Kongsberg, which received $250 million of our taxes in late 2024 to build a missile facility. Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons company and with a criminal record a mile long, is also applying to lease land at Astra Aerolab. This is in doubt given the blow out of construction timelines and serious questions about the financial situation of Newcastle Airport.
Given the financial significance of the Kongsberg factory, it was exhibited for comment by NSW residents in 2024. The proposal wasn't described as a weapons factory but rather a "light-industrial high-technology facility". Residents worked it out, however, and the proposal received 87 objections.Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, announced the Kongsberg proposal as a done-deal whilst it was still supposedly under consideration by NSW Planning. (Read more about why the community objected to the development, and the pathetic response to those objections).
Astra Aerolab is a key part of the australian Labor government's Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Plan (GWEO) which has been developed to serve its AUKUS obligations. AUKUS was described by former PM Keating as "the worst deal in history" and by a defence analyst as "a pathway to nuclear war with China". The Plan gives $22 billion of our taxes to weapons corporations to make missiles and bombs that will be used mostly to defend the US and by other "allies".
Billions will be given to companies setting up at Astra Aerolab, despite the fact the Airport was reported in 2024 to have overspent millions on these weapons factories and to be considering cutting jobs. Other reasons the community objects to Astra Aerolab include:
○ Humanitarian concerns - Astra Aerolab will contribute to the mass murder of civilians and do little to "defend" so-called australia.
○ Climate concerns - currently the military contributes at least 6% of carbon emissions and we must rapidly de-carbonise our economies if we are to survive.
○ Impact on jobs and the economy - the region has a skills shortage and it is well documented that manufacturing businesses suffer when they need to compete with the weapons industry for labour.
○ Impact on our international legal obligations - australia's export arrangements are driven by the Australia-US Defence Trade Cooperation Agreement and as such we are unable to meet our obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty or Genocide Convention. Astra Aerolab will significantly contribute to our failures under international humanitarian law.
○ Criminality of the corporations housed at Astra Aerolab - Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems, for example, have a long history of corporate crime and being involved in war crimes. Kongsberg is the focus of human rights campaigners in Norway for its role in atrocities in Palestine.
○ Threat to peace and security - Increased militarisation makes us less safe. Security experts have warned that AUKUS, and the Australian Government’s commitment to interoperability with the US defence forces, puts us on a path to nuclear war with China.
* Greens Councillor's have consistently called on Newcastle Council to uphold it's responsibilities to the Investment, Procurement and Borrowing Policy.
This blog is modified from an original post created by No Weapons for Genocide and posted at Free Palestine Newcastle.
