On the search for answers after Las Vegas

Dean Ellis writes: Re. “Razer: how the search for ‘truth’ after Las Vegas has been used to delude voters” (Tuesday)  

Reading this piece brought to mind the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre. The Liberals won office on 2 March 1996 and Daryl Williams was appointed Attorney-General; the Port Arthur Massacre occurred on 28 and 29 April 1996. I happen to live in the same street as Daryl Williams and from time to time we cross paths at our local shopping precinct. At the time of the 20 anniversary I greeted Daryl at the shops and congratulated him on the gun law reforms his government had taken in response to the massacre. 

According to Razer, there maybe “a background that is not beyond politics,” but there definitely are backgrounds which transcend politics and gun control in Australia, the US. Despite being opposed to everything conservative politics stands for and by, I was nonetheless pleased to be able to take the opportunity to thank a member of a conservative government for simply “doing the right thing”.

Daryl looked sheepish during our encounter, not being sure what to make of the ancient mariner type encounter. But he need not fret, it will almost certainly be the last time I congratulate him on anything his government did.  

On the University of Melbourne and Breitbart

Margaret Beavis writes: Re. “Uni backtrack” (Monday)

The University of Melbourne may be withdrawing its adverting on Breitbart, but is it still pandering to the research needs of the world’s biggest weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin? It has stringent ethics committees for its research students, but seems more than a bit lax when it comes to accepting corporate funding and donations.

In July last year the University put out a media release headed “University welcomes Lockheed Martin to Melbourne” which included the following:

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor James McCluskey said the University’s collaboration with Lockheed Martin was strategically important.

“The University has made no secret of its desire to both deepen and broaden its engagement with industry….”

“Our focus on impact through deep expertise and research excellence, places us in an ideal position to assist Lockheed Martin with their research goals.”

Given Lockheed Martin is a famously historically corrupt company in one of the world’s most corrupt industries, this is very disappointing.

Lockheed Martin is committed to developing Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS- also known as killer robots) — the latest addition to the weapons of mass destruction. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and 115 leading experts have called for an outright ban and there are ongoing negotiations happening at the United Nations on how to prohibit them.

The University currently has research happening in partnership with Lockheed Martin on sensor technology and autonomous vehicle systems, both of which are crucial to LAWS development. Other major weapons companies like Boeing have publicly undertaken not to develop these weapons, but Lockheed Martin has made no such commitment.

It is also interesting to reflect how much Lockheed Martin may be trying to ingratiate itself in to the Australian community as a benign entity. Given Canada’s threats to cancel the benighted F-35 Joint Strike Fighter contracts, Lockheed Martin would be keen for Australia not to cancel its $17 billion order. The fact that the F-35 is a massively over budget, long overdue, technically deeply flawed plane readily shot out of the sky by older planes, which is much better suited to  joining US attacks than defending Australia, is a significant concern. For Lockheed Martin being a partner of an institution like the University of Melbourne may be politically useful.