Snap SA protest targets arms manufacturers

Written by: (Contributed) on 10 December 2025

On Monday December 8, a protest organised by Disrupt Arms Traders and supported by Qakers, IPAN-SA and Port Adelaide Community Opposing AUKUS (PACOA), targeted the offices of SA Defence and the SA Premier MalinAUKUS.

For a protest in working hours, called at short notice, and attended by mainly retired persons, it was quite effective.

The protest came days after the announcement by the SA Premier, the federal minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy, and representatives of US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, that a new facility, built at Pt Wakefield, will be used for the assembly of missiles.

The facility was designed and built by Indigenous construction company Intract Australia in a move aimed to strengthen ties between First Peoples and the pro-US Australian military.

It will be owned by the Department of Defence and assemble parts imported from the US.

It will be the only facility in the world outside of the Lockheed Martin facility in Camden, Arkansas to produce the company’s Guided Missile Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missiles.

It is yet another step in making the SA economy dependent on foreign armaments producers – a far cry from the days when SA manufacturers produced agricultural machinery, various white goods (fridges, washing machines etc), and cars.

At the offices of SA Defence, the protesters organised into two groups: one going inside to hand deliver a letter condemning the MalinAUKUS government, while the other stayed outside, chanting slogans and displaying banners to passer-byers and traffic.

They then re-assembled outside the electoral office of the SA Premier, displaying banners and chanting slogans in opposition to the drive to war. Two people went inside to speak to MalinAUKUS, but he was not there, so they had to content themselves with passing on messages through his staff.

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