Writer
Sue Wareham
Dr Sue Wareham OAM is President of the Medical Association for Prevention of War, which can be found at www.mapw.org.au, FB @MAPWAustralia, Twitter @MAPW_Australia. She is also Secretary of Australians for War Powers Reform, but the views expressed above are not written in that capacity.
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Time to reclaim remembrance
As the nation pauses to honour our war dead on Anzac Day, it is appropriate to reflect on the tainting of genuine commemoration at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) by vested interests. Added to deep concerns about the bitterly controversial $1/2 billion redevelopment, the Memorial is dividing rather than uniting Australians. Continue reading »
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“No Australian who has ever fallen in our uniform has ever died in vain, ever” The PM and the AWM
Prime Minister Morrison’s recent statement to the ABC that “No Australian who has ever fallen in our uniform has ever died in vain, ever” is glib, facile, devoid of any content and oblivious to the catastrophe in Afghanistan and to Australia’s role. It is little more than an arbitrary assertion – that Australia’s wars, by definition, bring good Continue reading »
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AWM needs lessons in democracy
While fine and solemn words about our democratic values and freedoms will be uttered from the Australian War Memorial (AWM) on Anzac Day, behind the scenes the institution is engaging in processes that treat with contempt our right to help shape the important decisions that affect us all. Continue reading »
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Manufacturing consent: Australian War Memorial has become a cheerleader for war
The Australian War Memorial is being transformed, against the wishes of the Australian people, from a place of war commemoration to a place that honours war itself, a militaristic and rousing endorsement of every decision to send Australians to war. Continue reading »
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Let’s face it, Australia goes to war far too easily (Canberra Times Nov 15, 2020)
The soon-to-be-released Brereton Report will shine a light on alleged war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan. It is expected that a culture of impunity within the special forces will be highlighted as a significant factor in perpetuating crimes against Afghan civilians Continue reading »
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Government must stop militarising our biggest challenges
Proposed legislation to enable the PM to declare a national emergency and call in the troops appears to be yet another example of the government’s dangerous tendency to militarise our biggest challenges, including climate change. Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Roadmaps on the two biggest threats ready to go
Our security lies in our capacity to work together for the common good, rather than in weapons that terrify other humans. Roadmaps to address our two biggest threats, nuclear weapons and climate change, are ready to go. We’re not waiting for a vaccine, but simply for governments, including our own, to learn that increasingly alarming Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Prioritising Health
Global military spending continues to rise. Critical health goals could be achieved for a fraction of what we spend on wars. Focussing funding on health rather than military spending, globally and in Australia, would create more jobs, healthier communities, and budgetary savings. Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Cancel RIMPAC and reorder our priorities
The failure to cancel RIMPAC or the slowness in doing so – whichever turns out to be the case – demands a reordering of our priorities to place healthcare before warfare. A call from the Australian government to our troops to “#StayAtHome” is long overdue. Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Healthcare Not Warfare
Australia should support the UN Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire. There are steps that our nation could take in the very short term and beyond to prioritise healthcare over warfare. We are spending vast sums on equipping ourselves for the next war while our frontline health workers struggle to find enough face masks Continue reading »
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AWM redevelopment – Green lights all the way despite widespread opposition
Due process has been missing in action with the proposed Australian War Memorial demolition and expansion. Wide-ranging and serious concerns from many people have been dismissed, as AWM Director Dr Brendan Nelson continues to be given green lights in his quest to have the Memorial display yet more of the machinery of warfare. One wonders Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Abbott – a natural fit for a war memorial sliding from commemoration to propaganda
People who have the power to set the direction of national cultural institutions need to reflect appropriate values. The appointment of Tony Abbott to the Council of the Australian War Memorial reminds us of just how much the Memorial has lost touch with the values of many Australians. A man whose public life has been Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Nuclear weapons must be rejected
Professor Hugh White’s recent suggestion that Australia might need to consider nuclear weapons is highly provocative and dangerous. He is helping to legitimise these instruments of terror, and gives credence to the deeply flawed notion of nuclear “deterrence”. Australia must instead support global efforts for nuclear weapons elimination, especially the Treaty on the Prohibition of Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. How the Australian War Memorial has lost its way.
In a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories inquiry into Canberra’s national institutions Sue Wareham ,on behalf of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) calls for major changes at the AWM The submission notes that the inquiry’s purpose is to report on strategies that Canberra’s national Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Honouring the war dead means learning from the horror.
This Anzac Day, as on every other, we will hear of the horrors of war to which many of our service people have been exposed, horrors that certainly call into question any notion of us assuming the title “homo sapiens”. We will “honour the fallen” and utter the hallowed words “lest we forget”, as we Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Parliamentary debate on going to war is long overdue.
This week marks the 15th anniversary, on March 20, of one of Australia’s most disastrous foreign policy decisions – our involvement in the invasion of Iraq. To characterise this as “our” involvement, however, does a great disservice to the millions of Australians who were vehemently opposed to the decision that was made by just one Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. PM Turnbull’s ‘jobs’ argument for war profiteering is a sham.
PM Turnbull’s push to make Australia a major weapons exporter puts paid to any pretence we might have of being a peace-loving nation. And his claim that it’s all about jobs is a sham. War profiteering is one of the least effective ways to create jobs. Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Open letter: Parliament, not ministers, must decide Australia’s response to a Korean war
The possibility of war between the United States and North Korea – particularly a war triggered by one too many provocative moves by an unpredictable leader, leading to miscalculation or misinterpretation – continues to threaten millions of people. The consequences of any such war, even a “conventional” one, would be dire. Continue reading »
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The Australian War Memorial and weapons manufacturers
The peace of the world for future generations is anathema to the interests of those who profit from warfare. As we commemorate again the “war to end all wars”, and every war since, one can only wonder what the diggers would have thought, as we allow the industry that profits from the cruelty of wars Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. How independent is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
ASPI’s oft-repeated claim of independence – immunity from the influence of the corporations who help fund the organisation – does strike one as rather naive for experts who might otherwise be seen as “hard-headed realists” in a tough world. Corporations are, after all, accountable to their shareholders to whom they must demonstrate that funds are Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Why is Australia not fully behind efforts to prohibit nuclear weapons?
It’s about time for some good news. Heaven knows, we need it after 2016’s litany of human failures to find peace between ourselves and with our struggling planet. But as a Christmas gift of historic proportions, the UN – which is to say its member states – has taken the most promising action in decades Continue reading »
