NSW Government Is Chief Sponsor of the Sydney International Weapons Expo

Despite a ceasefire in respect of the Gaza genocide being in place, Israel is continuing to conduct air strikes in the strip periodically, while its intensifying attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, which, according to the NSW Minns government, is an ideal time to host a weapons fair on Gadigal land at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.

The Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition will take place at the ICC over 4 to 6 November 2025, and the chief sponsors of this coming together of weapons industry heavy weights is the NSW government and Investment NSW. And as the state puts it, sponsoring such an event reveals that it’s “committed to amplifying local industry capability and helping businesses to” cut deals.

The weapons expo website features an enthusiastic looking defence minister Richard Marles, who’s delighted to welcome participants to the merchants of death fest, while NSW premier Chris Minns finds it a pleasure to welcome out-of-towners to his vibrant city of Sydney. The premier further waxes lyrical about the primary role that NSW plays in the local defence industry.

The NSW antigenocide/antiwar movement is opposing the fair showcasing killing devices, which isn’t that surprising as it has been quite active over the last 24 months. The Blockade the Indo Pacific Weapons Expo of War Criminals rally will take place on Tuesday, 4 November 2025. And the fact that Israeli companies will be spruiking their wares has been the subject of much public scrutiny.

Former Australian Greens candidate for Grayndler Hannah Thomas, Greens Senator David Shoebridge, NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson and key organiser of the protest Palestine Action Group spokesperson Josh Lees were at the ICC last Friday 24 October, the first day of Disarmament Week, to raise awareness about the weapons trading bonanza taking place, ahead of broader protests.

Networking for merchants of death

“The Indo Pacific Weapons Expo at the ICC is a grotesque festival of war criminals, funded by the Minns Labor government,” Thomas told Sydney Criminal Lawyers. “It brings together the world’s biggest arms dealers — Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Thales, Elbit, Rafael — to peddle the same weapons that have reduced Gaza to rubble and killed 680,000 Palestinians.”

“These companies are cashing in on genocide,” the lawyer continued. “Israeli weapons companies will proudly display their products as ‘battle-tested’ on the children of Gaza. This is where tomorrow’s wars are conceived and sold. This is where suffering is turned into profit.”

According to the NSW government, the Indo Pacific weapons fest is a big deal. It notes on its website for potential weapons promoters that this is the “only comprehensive international exhibition of its kind in the Asia Pacific region”, and it will be populated by “key decision-makers, government representatives, defence officials and military procurement managers”.

Applications to be an exhibitor with a pod or to act as a rover delegate closed on 5 September. So luckily for them, a local subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, got in before the closing date, as did Israeli state-owned company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems. And as Thomas points out, these entities utilise a distinctly depraved line to promote their wares.

“What makes it especially horrific right now is the timing,” underscored Thomas, who took on the PM in the last election. “This is happening while Palestinians are still being bombed, starved and displaced — while people are literally digging children from rubble with their bare hands. To see arms dealers clinking glasses over canapés at Darling Harbour while that happens is nauseating.”

A premier idea

Thomas, Higginson, Lees and Shoebridge were all nearby the ICC last Friday, for the very fact that international corporations that manufacture weapons used during Israel’s genocide in Gaza will be showcased, and to call out NSW premier Chris Minns for overseeing a government that is prioritising the sale of weapons in a time of genocide.

“Chris Minns could stop this event tomorrow if he wanted to,” Thomas made clear. “The NSW government, through Investment NSW, is a chief sponsor. That means taxpayer money is literally helping the weapons industry network and sell instruments of death — on stolen land, in our city, in our name.”

“And yes, these expos happen all the time — that’s part of the problem,” she added, pre-empting a response from the top NSW minister. “The arms trade has been normalised. Our leaders treat it like a legitimate sector of the economy, instead of what it is: a machine that fuels suffering and instability around the world.”

The NSW government, “the principal sponsor” of the most comprehensive weapons-trading event in the Indo Pacific, has made the event enticing for merchants of death via the offer of direct engagement with “Australian and international primes and defence officials”, as well as the ability to be positioned at the forefront of the global industry to access business and export opportunities.

Member of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (IOC), Australian human rights expert Chris Sidoti has called out Elbit Systems specifically as a “key supplier of the Israeli military, a key enabler of the Israel Defence Forces in its commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

Sidoti recently added that no Australian company and “certainly no part of the Australian government” should have any dealings with Elbit Systems, due to its complicity in the Gaza genocide. However, NSW Labor doesn’t seem to be bothered by this. The IOC inquiry that Sidoti was part of recently published a report that determined that Israel is indeed committing genocide in Gaza.

“Calling Minns out is a way of refusing that normalisation,” Thomas added, in respect of next week’s event. “His government is lending credibility to an industry enabling and profiting from war crimes, so he deserves to be called out personally.”

Shaming war criminals

Thomas further explained that “people across all movements” will be taking part in the Indo Pacific protest rally, which has been organised by Palestine Action Group, and she adds that they’ll be mobilising “bright and early to confront the weapons dealers and their political enablers”.

“Our goal is simple: to stop the exhibitors from walking freely into the convention centre to promote and sell the technology that fuels war crimes. Anyone who believes in peace and justice should join us — bring your friends, your colleagues, your communities,” she continued.

In response to a question, the lawyer further insisted that regardless of whether the flimsy ceasefire in Gaza holds or not, these sorts of “gatherings of war profiteers” need to be demonstrated, as the global system that has facilitated the mass murder in the strip continues on towards its next money-churning killing fest, and to “make clear there is no social licence for their industry of death”.

“This blockade isn’t just about one event — it’s about drawing a line,” Thomas said in conclusion. “We want the weapons industry, and the politicians who protect it, to know that every time they gather to profit from destruction, the community will rise up to resist.”

The Blockade the Indo Pacific Weapons Expo of War Criminals rally will be meeting at 6.30 am on Tuesday, 4 November 2025, to be on site for the 7.30 am welcome breakfast for the merchants of death and their political sponsors