2026-11-05
Opposing militarisation in WA, calling out WA’s climate inaction and arguing against the proposed merger of WA universities
By Hon Sophie McNeill, MLC
We’ve had a massive few months fighting poor government policy on all fronts: we’ve protested against the Land Forces Expo and the increased militarisation of WA, we scrutinised the government’s climate inaction, and we’ve fought back against the government’s ill-thought plans to merge three of our public universities.
Land Forces Expo
On 6-8 October, Perth hosted the Land Forces Expo, the largest arms fair in the southern hemisphere, which brought the world’s largest and most culpable weapons companies to our city to flog their murderous wares and discuss new and innovative ways to kill people. Participants included BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin (both accused by UN human rights experts as being complicit in mass atrocities in places like Gaza and Yemen) and Israeli weapons companies, Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Prior to this event, I shared an update on the Land Forces Bill, which provided police with extraordinary special powers to protect weapons manufacturers from protesters during the Expo. This law unfortunately passed with the support of Labor, Liberals and One Nation ‒ but we didn’t go down without a fight and we spent nearly 16 hours questioning the government about this legislation in Parliament to ensure that it had proper scrutiny. The protest was incredible ‒ over 1,000 people peacefully gathered in Yagan Square and marched to Elizabeth Quay, calling for an end to war, the mass murder of civilians, and increasing militarism in our hometown. There was not a single arrest or move-on order issued by police against the protesters, which clearly showed that these excessive police powers were not necessary.
Climate (in)action
In the week after Land Forces, the government repurposed the Convention Centre from an arms fair to the pre-COP Global Citizen NOW conference, which focused on the clean energy transition and nature protection. I attended, and it was clear from the Premier’s address that to him, the conference was a green washing exercise used to excuse his government’s shameful record on climate action. Luckily, the conference attendees ‒ including climate experts, activists and politicians from around the world ‒ could see through the Premier’s nonsense and there was a clear preference from John Butler’s amazing presentation on the importance of non-violent direct action.
A few weeks ago, Brad and I hosted a Politics in the Pub on a gas tax in Kalamunda. We packed out the Kalamunda Hotel, and it was great to catch up with everyone and discuss the need to tax gas corporations ‒ that are making mega profits from our resources, while also destroying our climate.
It was great to host another packed out Politics in the Pub on Forest Mining and AUKUS with Jess in Margaret River at the end of October. We had important discussions about protecting the South West forests and scrapping the AUKUS submarine deal.
Thanks to everyone who came out to our recent events!
Fighting back against WA Labor’s attack on our universities
On 11 October ‒ a Sunday afternoon ‒ the government dropped a bombshell when they announced the development of a business case and steering committee to look into a merger of UWA, Curtin and Murdoch universities. They also released reports that they had previously refused to make public, despite questions that I had asked in Parliament calling for their release. The uni merger is premised on assumptions that lack evidence, such as a merger will increase completion rates, international student enrolment and research funding.
I was proud to support students, academics, unions and staff in their fight against this horrible merger, which will remove choice and negatively impact student experience. I was very humbled to be invited to speak at the rally against the uni merger at Parliament House. We will keep up the fight and pressure against WA Labor’s horrible plans to destroy tertiary education in our state.
Header photo: Sophie speaking at the rally on 6th October opposing the Land Forces Expo in Perth.