Protest at Parliament Over Weapons Companies Meeting

Peace activists are planning a noise protest outside Parliament as major global weapons manufacturers meet in the Beehive. Organisers say the presence of multinational arms companies in Wellington raises serious questions about New Zealand’s military spending priorities and its international positioning amid the war in Gaza.

Protest Planned Outside Parliament Over Weapons Industry Meeting

There will be a noise protest outside of Parliament on Friday, 31 October at 8:30am against the meeting of major weapons companies including Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney and Bell Textron in the Beehive. The protest is organised by Peace Action Wellington, Justice for Palestine and the Falastin Tea Collective.

Activists Criticise Arms Companies’ Role in Gaza

“On Halloween, we can imagine nothing scarier than arms dealers freely roaming the halls of Parliament. These are the people delivering immense death and destruction to the people of Gaza right now. In particular, Lockheed jets have been delivery drivers for the thousands of bombs dropped on civilians, schools, hospitals and homes, ” said Valerie Morse, member of Peace Action Wellington.

“As Israel breaks the ceasefire and resumes murdering Palestinians, and the NZDF is deploying a ‘liaison officer’ to Israel to shore up the occupation’s shredded global legitimacy, the aerospace industry is meeting at Parliament to push their agenda of weapons sales to a government hungry for war.”

Former Defence Leadership and Industry Links

“The former Chief of Defence Force, Kevin Short, is now Lockheed’s Director of Strategy & Business Development. He is giving the keynote address, and his message will be ‘buy more weapons.’ Minister of War Judith Collins will be only too happy to oblige as she pushes forward with an aggressive pro-war, pro-genocide stance.’”

$12 Billion Military Spending Debate

“The $12 billion weapons and military spending promised by this government is money to support US wars and by extension, Israel’s wars. These weapons companies keep us enthralled by the idea that we need to keep buying more and more weapons. Meanwhile these are the very companies making a killing, and doing a lot of killing, across the globe.