Police, defense companies, and organizers are bracing for potentially violent protests from various groups during this week’s biennial Land Forces conference in Melbourne. Demonstrators have already begun shutting down roads, chaining themselves to cars, and protesting over the last three days.
The AMDA Foundation, organizers of Land Forces, report record attendance, with claims of over 130 official defense, government, and industry delegations from 30 nations, alongside more than a thousand industry exhibitors. The event, running from Wednesday to Friday, is billed as “the largest defense industry event ever held in Australia.”
However, protesters are seemingly intent on disrupting the event. According to an email from Victoria Police, this is expected to be “the largest operation since the World Economic Forum in 2000.” They are deploying hundreds of regional police along with metro general duties police and specialized units, including the Public Order Response Team, Highway Patrol, and Mounted Branch.
The protests have taken a personal turn, with one group distributing “wanted posters” featuring senior defense industry employees from major companies.
“These war profiteers may be found at arms dealer events such as LAND FORCES 24 at the Melbourne Convention Centre. You may spot one in the streets, at a bar or a cafe, profiting off genocide. Approach with caution. Call for help. Arms dealers have no moral compass and may appear lost. Don’t be fooled,” the website DisruptLandForces.org states. The site also provides legal briefings and a detailed schedule for protesters, and a public fundraiser has raised over $20,000 AUD to support the group, which claims to be a coalition of over 50 organizations, many with pro-Palestinian affiliations.
The wanted posters are quite specific, as exemplified by the case of Christopher Pyne, who served as Defense Minister during several controversial deals. The poster criticizes Pyne for transitioning directly from his ministerial role to a position in the weapons industry, working first as an „executive consultant” at EY Defence and now holding roles in ten different companies related to the arms trade. The poster condemns this perceived conflict of interest, arguing that it is unacceptable for someone once privy to sensitive national military strategy discussions to immediately align with companies benefiting commercially from those discussions. The protest aims to remind attendees that Pyne was elected to serve the defense needs of Australians rather than secure lucrative corporate positions.
While the scale of protests might be startling, the presence of demonstrators was anticipated. AMDA had previously warned attendees about the potential threat from protesters. To safeguard the site, a large metal fence has been erected around the Melbourne Convention Center. However, Victoria Police stated, “there is no intelligence to suggest this event is the target of any specific terrorist threat.”
Breaking Defense reached out to representatives of five defense firms participating in the conference; only one responded with a comment from a “defense industry spokesperson.”
“Our employees will be joined by a security team at Land Forces. This is not out of the ordinary — we take our employees’ safety and security seriously, and this measure is something we consider for all large-scale, public-facing events,” the spokesperson remarked.
