The US-Australian Talisman Sabre military exercise due to start tomorrow (6 July) at the Shoalwater Bay Training area near Rockhampton will be met by peace campaigners calling for the war games to be cancelled.
?These exercises are rehearsing for the next invasion. Clearly this is something the Australian people don?t want,? said Denis Doherty from the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition (AABCC).
?Defence has no mandate and no right to conduct these war games and should stop immediately. They are trampling on democracy.
?Talisman Sabre will cost Australia over $50 million in the midst of an economic crisis,? Mr Doherty said.
?We peace campaigners speak for the 70 per cent of Australians who do not want more money spent on the military.
?The live-fire exercises practice invasions, they make Australia a greater target, they train our forces to take US orders, and they bomb unique and fragile locations on the edge of the irreplaceable Great Barrier Reef.
?We are practicing for the next war, but the government?s 2009 Defence White Paper stated that there is no major military threat to Australia:.
?Talisman Sabre is addressing threats that do not exist, while aggravating those that are rapidly advancing, including climate change, hunger, and crippling poverty.
?War and its preparation make these problems worse. Talisman Sabre should be cancelled,? Denis Doherty concluded.
For more information
contact Denis Doherty 0418 290 663
www.anti-bases.org www.peaceconvergence.com