Local Editor
The Federal Government is under fire for granting a licence to a Canberra company exporting a weapons system destined for Saudi Arabia, a country plagued by allegations of human rights atrocities committed as part of the controversial conflict in neighboring Yemen.
The ABC revealed this morning the Australian Government is providing tens of millions of dollars to Electro Optic Systems (EOS), which has designed a remotely operated vehicle-mounted platform that holds cannons, machine guns and missile launchers.
The ABC has seen confidential EOS board minutes which describe signing a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the sale of 500 remote weapons systems (RWS) units destined for the Saudi Ministry of Interior.
Following the ABC's report, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne this morning told a Senate estimates hearing that a ban on the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia was under review.
During the same hearing, Senator Richard Di Natale repeatedly asked one of Defence's acting deputy secretaries, Tom Hamilton, whether there was any guarantee Australian weapons systems or component parts would not end up being used in the bloody conflict in Yemen.
Hamilton was unable to guarantee that Canberra-made remote weapons systems, that attracted a taxpayer subsidy, won’t be used in the bloody Yemen conflict.
The Government provided more than $36 million in financial assistance to EOS, and Defence Minister Christopher Pyne has spent years lobbying the Saudi Government on behalf of Australian defence companies — support acknowledged by EOS.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
