Tanks for water – not for War

by Paul Cockram (couldn't get this one published anywhere)

Later this month (June 2007) the combined US and Australian armed forces will be storming the beaches during operation ‘Talisman Sabre ’07’. The site for these war games is the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, 30km from Rockhampton, just below the Great Barrier Reef.

According to the Department of Defence website, the exercises are designed to ensure our ‘interoperability’ with the US Armed Forces. The Defence Dept. blurb points out at great length that all the beach storming, bomb dropping, ground straffing and general shoot-em-ups will be performed with the utmost respect for the environment.

This concern for the environment is just as well seeing it’s all happening inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area, a natural wonder of the world and one of Australia’s premier tourist attractions.
But there are other concerns not addressed by the DoD website.

Firstly, the US Armed Forces do not need more practice in storming the beaches; they are arguably the most proficient invading army in the world today.

It’s the bit that comes after the invasion that the US and its allies, that’s us, find they have no training for – the occupation and reconstruction stage. If these armies have the time and resources to storm empty beaches, perhaps they could instead do something useful, learn new skills and make a contribution to the local area.

For instance, they could turn all that energy towards land rehabilitation, revitalising some wetlands or maybe installing a water tank or two. There are plenty of deeply incised streams and rivers in that area needing control structures put in place – just the job for an energetic team with heavy equipment.

Secondly, Australia can not afford to keep up with the United States military machine. The impending purchase of the Abrams tanks is a telling example.

The Howard Government wants us to buy sixty ‘refurbished’ army tanks at $10 million each for the defence of Australia. The Abrams is said to be a very efficient enemy tank-destroyer, especially when it’s firing armour-piercing shells containing depleted uranium, but what enemy tanks will it ever be required to knockout here in Australia?

Nobody in their right mind could say that these tanks will in any way contribute to the defence of our country. What a waste of money.

Malcolm Turnbull boasts on his Department of the Environment website of the $340 million to be spent on solar energy and ‘kick-starting the renewable energy industry’. Vital stuff, the way of the future; so how does it make sense to spend nearly twice that much on hand-me-down military hardware we can’t use?

There is so much to be done to avoid climatic and economic catastrophe and we need all the resources we can muster. Sixty old army tanks for the price of 300,000 new water tanks? The answer is obvious – give away the tanks.

Of course it might start a bit of a trend. If we also didn’t spend $15-20 billion on new fighters for the RAAF, we could probably afford to install a free array of solar panels with each water tank.

Now more than ever, we need to be mindful of how our national resources are being used. Sustainable energy technology, not military hardware, is without doubt the best way to ensure our future is secure.