Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Steven Bradbury of the Liberal Party, the soon to be Prime Minister, Senator Cormann, acting on behalf of the Minister for Defence. Minister, your government has just announced that it plans to grow Australia's weapons exports by 800 per cent in the next decade by throwing $4 billion of taxpayer money at its defence export strategy—a strategy that is wholly supported by the Labor Party. You said that you'll be targeting our weapons exports to our allies, to countries like the United Arab Emirates and to Saudi Arabia. Minister. You are no doubt aware that the Middle East is mired in strife, with intractable conflicts across the region. Are you concerned that financing the growth of Australian weapons into the Middle East will contribute to this instability? Are you going to, as Tony Abbott called it, sift the goodies from the baddies by only selling to the goodies, or are you happy to sell to both sides of these conflicts?