 |
| Photo: John Janson-Moore |
Over a hundred people joined a march organised by Stop the War on Palestine in Marrickville on Saturday 17th August 2024.
Participants initially gathered at Sydenham Station car park at 1.00pm before marching along Marrickville Road to PM Anthony Albanese’s electoral office in Marrickville. Other community groups that joined the march included Teachers and School Staff for Palestine and the Inner West for Palestine group.
Publicity for the march stated that support by Australian and other western governments for Israel is what allows the genocide in Gaza to continue. Global pressure, sanctions and an end to Western supplies of arms were recommended to force Israel to end its war.
Accordingly, the protest called upon PM Albanese to act on the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and impose sanctions on Israel which it described as an apartheid state. These included trade sanctions and an end to the production of F-35 fighter jet parts manufactured in Australia which form part of the aircraft’s international supply chain.1
Inner West Council
On arriving at PM Albanese’s electoral office, the gathering was addressed by a number of speakers including Cr Dylan Griffiths (Greens) from the Inner West Council.
One matter discussed by Cr Griffiths was a Notice of Motion on Israel’s war on Gaza, considered by Council at its meeting on 13th August 2024. This motion was proposed by Cr Griffiths and seconded by Cr Pauline Lockie (Independent).
Entitled ‘Invasion of Gaza and illegal occupation of Westbank – Council’s investments and procurement relationships in relation to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign’, this motion was supported by all five Greens councillors and two Independent councillors, but voted down by all eight Labor councillors.
In opposition, a foreshadowed motion was put forward by Mayor Darcy Byrne (Labor).
A key difference between the motions revolved around the original motion’s requirement for:
Council to undertake a comprehensive audit of Council’s investments and procurement relationships in the context of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, with any required funding to be identified through the quarterly budget review. This audit will:
(a) be reported to council at the earliest opportunity and staged to allow priority disclosure of high value investments and procurement relationships; and
(b) make recommendations, if needed, of changes that Council can make to its suppliers and investments, to ensure that Council is not investing or purchasing from companies involved in the weapons industry and/or which are complicit in or profiting from human rights violations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.2
The foreshadowed motion omitted any reference to a comprehensive audit of Council’s investments and procurement relationships in the context of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign.3
Council’s debate
In speaking to the motion, Mayor Byrne asserted that “Council upholds an ethical procurement policy based on clear principles of avoidance of unethical Investments and purchases.” He added that “one principle that has been … deliberately excluded from the policy is racially, nationally or ethnically based procurement decisions.”4
Further, the Mayor stated that Council, in adherence to this policy, entered into a contract with Hewlett-Packard for IT products and services in 2022. He also reported that Council’s legal officers have advised that “there are no grounds for refusing to pay the $74,000 annual licensing fee which is payable through that contract.” In addition, they also advised that “cancellation of the contract on any grounds including racial or ethnic grounds could result in serious legal problems for the council which rate payers would have to foot the bill for.”5
In response, it needs to be emphasised that objections to Council’s contract with HP have nothing to do with racial or ethnic considerations. Rather, as the original motion states, proposed changes to Council’s procurement policy are specifically designed to “ensure that Council is not investing or purchasing from companies involved in the weapons industry and/or which are complicit in or profiting from human rights violations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”6 To imply otherwise is clearly fallacious, if not deliberately misleading.
Contrary to the essence of the Mayor’s argument, it is Council’s contract with HP which has decidedly racial and ethnic implications by the contribution it makes to the “crime of apartheid” in the occupied Palestinian territories.7
Indeed, the ICJ has found that:
the régime of comprehensive restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitutes systemic discrimination based on, inter alia, race, religion or ethnic origin, in violation of Articles 2, paragraph 1, and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Article 2 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. (Emphasis added).8
Given the seriousness of these circumstances, it would be appropriate to have the advice received from Council’s legal officers independently evaluated.
In addition, Council’s procurement contracts should be subject to ethical standards reflected in the original motion above. This would provide Council with the legal grounds for terminating contracts with companies found breaching such standards without being subject to financial penalty.
It should be noted that Hewlett-Packard (HP) supplies computers and other technologies to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) which is committing horrendous war crimes in Gaza on a daily basis. It has also supplied the Basel system to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. This access and control system is a system of biometric sensors and has been installed in Israeli military checkpoints located on the border with the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. For many years HP has therefore been implicated in Israel’s oppressive control over these illegally occupied Palestinian territories.9
Also in speaking to the motion, Mayor Byrne used the discredited argument that Council needs to be primarily “focused on local responsibilities, not foreign affairs.” This has not stopped the Mayor supporting motions related to foreign affairs in the past.10
Delivering quality community services and infrastructure along with sound financial management on the one hand, and responding to specific humanitarian crises occurring internationally on the other hand, are not mutually exclusive.
A public rally comprising over 300 people took place outside the Ashfield Civic Centre prior to the Council meeting. Speakers at the rally strongly supported the modest call for an audit to be undertaken in order to ensure that Council is not associated with companies involved in the weapons industry or profiting from human rights violations in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Cr Griffiths reported that the Council meeting eventually closed just before 11.00pm. This was apparently due to the Mayor’s “concerns about the health and safety or welfare of Councillors, staff and members of the public.”11 According to Cr Griffiths, these concerns were not justified and the decision to call in the police was unwarranted.
Given Israel’s ongoing atrocities and violations of international law in Gaza, it is entirely legitimate for Inner West Council, not to mention all local government authorities, to clearly demonstrate that they are not supporting Israel in any way through their investments and procurement programs.
As Cr Griffiths noted, other councils have already passed disclosure and divestment motions. These councils include City of Sydney and Canterbury-Bankstown Council in NSW and Merri-bek and Darebin Councils in Victoria.
Additional photos of the protest march can be found here.
Notes
1. Michelle Fahy, ‘Australia and the F-35 supply chain: in lockstep with Lockheed’, Pearls and Irritations, May 9, 2024.
2. Inner West Council, Notice of Motion, C0824(1) Item 23, in Minutes of Ordinary Council Meeting held on 13 August 2024.
3. Note that Mayor Byrne closed the meeting before the foreshadowed motion could be voted on. This motion may be voted on at Council’s next meeting scheduled for 3 September 2024.
4, 5 & 6. Inner West Council, Council meeting webcasts, Ordinary Council Meeting, 13 August 2024. Refer in particular to the 13 August webcast segment relating to C0824(1) Item 23, starting at 3:48:41 and ending at 4:03:47.
7. MPG’s post ‘ICJ rules Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful’, 22 July 2024.
8. ICJ, Advisory opinion on Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Press Release, 19 July 2024, p. 3.
9. BDS, ‘Boycott HP – Campaign Update during #GazaGenocide’, 13 December 2023 and Who Profits Research Centre, ‘Hewlett Packard (HP) And The Israeli Occupation’, October 2016.
10. For example, refer to Council’s media release ‘Inner West Council supports ceasefire in Gaza’, dated 23 November 2023 and the Notice of Motion, C0820(2) Item 6, ‘Support for elected local government officials in Turkey’, dated 25 August 2020.
11. Inner West Council, Notice of Motion in note 2 above.