Editorial: Hard lessons from defence export debacle21aug01WHAT happens when a rookie such as Australia tries to take on the big boys of the global arms trade without doing its homework? Red faces, ruined careers and reputations in tatters. Worse still, if it had succeeded, Australia could have found itself supplying weapons and training to regimes whose militaries were responsible for serious human rights violations. As a special investigation by the The Australian has revealed, our attempt to capture a slice of the South-East Asian arms market was a national embarrassment that contains hard lessons on how not to do business in Asia. For security reasons – and Australia is no exception – most countries strive to develop indigenous defence capabilities. There are relatively few transnational arms manufacturers. But almost every Western country relies on imports of military hardware and even pacifist Sweden makes billions from exporting its Bofors artillery pieces. There is nothing wrong with Australia encouraging a defence export program. As a signatory to numerous international treaties governing the export of military technology, Australia's defence exports are subjected to strict controls. With 1400 companies supplying the Defence Department's acquisition needs, it's perfectly legitimate for the Government to promote our products and expertise abroad. But for Australia to succeed as a defence exporter there needs to be a realistic appraisal of our capabilities and whole-of-government approach to marketing such a sensitive commodity. In the heady days of the mid-1990s, when engagement with Asia was the buzzword and the region's booming economies were on an arms shopping spree, such pragmatism was in short supply. It is easy to understand the lure of the arms trade. Global defence production in 1999 was worth $1.6 trillion, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Arms exports clocked up $100 billion with the US, Britain and France supplying two-thirds of the world market. Staggering as these figures appear, global arms expenditure is 40 per cent below its 1987 peak and exports are also down. Faced with an increasingly competitive market dominated by vastly more experienced players, the Keating government recruited colourful arms dealers who strutted their stuff around the capitals of South-East Asia. Desperate to prove its credentials, the government even considered doing business with dubious entities such as the Thai army, which had connections with the Khmer Rouge, as well as Indonesia's brutal elite Kopassus force. Former defence minister Robert Ray claims he was not informed about who was being recruited to help promote the billion-dollar export push, and admits there was a lack of co-ordination within the defence portfolio. Inexperience, in-fighting and the superior marketing tactics of other arms-exporting nations ensured the experiment was doomed to failure. The figures speak for themselves. In 1992, military exports to South-East Asia totalled $7.2 million. Last year, they were down to $500,000. These days Crocodile Dundee in LA makes twice as much money at the US box office as the total of our global defence exports. Clearly, Australia can and should do better. But, as shown by the teething problems being experienced by the Bushmaster troop carrier, picking and choosing winners in a highly protected environment is risky. It would also be wrong for the Government to foster a defence export industry without adopting a co-ordinated inter-departmental approach that is also open and accountable. Just because the defence export debacle happened half a decade ago, doesn't mean we can't learn from those mistakes. © 2001 The Australian Print this page -- in The Australian, Tuesday, August 21, 2001 |
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The article quotes a person who stated that Britain, France and the United States used their intelligence agencies to sabotage the Australian efforts.
The whole article ought to be read by anyone who is contemplating giving their vote to either of the major political parties in Australia!
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