The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is currently hosting the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition, with hundreds of defence personnel expected to attend from around the world.
The Land Forces Expo — a three-day industry-only event — has been billed as “the largest defence industry event ever held in Australia”, and has sparked intense protests outside the exhibition centre and throughout Melbourne’s CBD.
What is the Land Forces Expo about?
Previously held in Brisbane, the expo brings together senior international military, defence, government, scientific and industry delegations from around the world, and global contractors and exhibitors in industries such as communications, security and artillery.
The expo is not open to the public, and persons under the age of 16 are not allowed to attend.
Attendees need to prove they have a direct business connection to the defence industry and other industries related to defence.
What events are happening in the expo?
Events include an exhibition, networking events, innovation awards and presentations by industry experts.
The expo partnered with the Australian Army, the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems, the Australian Industry Defence Network, the Department of Defence, and others in the creation and execution of its program.
Autonomy in the Joint Military Battlespace — the highlighted conference of the expo’s program — “aims to promote engagement between defence and defence industry on the evolving use of autonomy and uncrewed systems for defence applications”.
What is being exhibited?
More than 800 local and international companies and organisations are taking part in the expo to showcase weapons, defence technology and other equipment and products related to warfare, security, technology, transportation and communications.
During the expo, military artillery, trucks and semi-automatic weapons have been put on display.
On Saturday, a military tank was delivered to the convention centre at 3am.
Why are people protesting against it?
Protests against the expo started outside the exhibition centre on Wednesday, having escalated throughout the day. Anti-war activists have clashed with police, hurling eggs at attendees as they made their way into the expo.
Ahead of the protests, Disrupt Land Forces spokesperson Jasmine Duff said the protest was triggered by the government’s stance on the Hamas-Israel war.
“We’re protesting to stand up for all those who have been killed by the type of weapons on display at the convention,” Duff said.
Duff said many of the weapons being displayed at the expo are advertised as “battle-tested” and that in the context of Israeli weapons companies present in the expo, “this means, tested through killing civilians in Gaza”.
Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri, who attended the protest, said on Tuesday that the state government should have cancelled the “deadly weapons expo”.
On Tuesday, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said: “From our perspective, the key is to recognise that this is an important industry that the state will continue to support.”
“This convention is really a showcase of the industry to the world.”
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley criticised protesters and showed support for the expo.
“I back our defence industries every single day of the week, and I know that Australians massively, absolutely do so as well.”
