No Weapons for Genocide, Food not Bombs and University of Newcastle Students for Palestine protested outside the annual Hunter Defence Conference in Cessnock on August 21. The conference, held at the luxury Rydges Resort in Hunter Valley and more than $1200 a head, was organised by and former senior air force officer, infamous for breaching rules on donations. Its aim was to promote the Hunter as a good place for the burgeoning arms industry.
NSW Premier Chris Minns and the federal Labor minister Pat Conroy were scheduled to speak. Steve O’Brien, Socialist Alliance candidate for Newcastle Lord Mayor, who attended the protest, told Green Left the conference desecrated the traditional lands of the Wonnarua, Awabakal and Darkinjung people by promoting waste and war mongering. He said weapons industry is “a total distraction from efforts to transition to solar and offshore wind” and that Labor and the Liberals are not phased by linking the Hunter to the genocide in Gaza.
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