Why subscribe?
The legal arms trade is one of the most corrupt on the planet. In Australia, ‘national security’ and ‘commercial-in-confidence’ restrictions are used by the government to justify a lack of transparency and accountability in the procurement, production, import and export of military weapons.
‘Culture of cosiness’
A secretive ‘culture of cosiness’ exists between the government, the military, and the weapons industry. This facilitates lucrative procurement deals for global weapons companies and well-paid corporate gigs for retiring politicians, military officers and senior public servants. The lack of transparency not only undermines the public interest, it sets the scene for corruption.
Undue Influence shines a light into some murky corners. There are few people reporting in detail on this opaque domain. It is complex time-consuming work and often involves battling with those who’d prefer the information remains in the shadows.
Record-breaking expenditure of public funds
In coming decades, the Australian government is spending unprecedented amounts on a huge arms build-up, including via the controversial AUKUS pact. This expenditure is on top of a steadily increasing annual defence budget that now exceeds $55 billion a year. This secretive industry is awash in cash like never before.
Subscribe, and support greater transparency
The Undue Influence team works in the public interest and is completely independent of mainstream media and corporate interests.
We read thousands of pages of documents, spend hundreds of additional hours searching online, and regularly file Freedom of Information requests, digging for information and joining the dots. Our articles take weeks, sometimes months, to produce.
Undue Influence relies on the financial support of our readers. By selecting a paid subscription you will directly support our work bringing this information to public attention.
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