This article is an instalment in the series ‘Up in Arms’, on munitions organisation Thales and spending by the Department of Defence.
The discovery by the Australian National Audit Office of major flaws and unethical conduct in the Department of Defence’s dealings with French arms giant Thales has done nothing to slow the torrent of taxpayer money flowing into the company’s coffers since the auditor-general exposed the debacle around the Thales-run Mulwala and Benalla munitions facilities.
In a demonstration of just how generous taxpayers are to the company, AusTender records show more than $59 million has been handed to Thales in the three weeks since June 25, when the ANAO released its report and defence secretary Greg Moriarty referred the scandal to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. That coincided with news that European investigators had raided Thales offices in Spain, France and the Netherlands as part of two bribery inquiries.
All 61 of the payments to Thales since June 25 — whether for watercraft, military vehicles, spare parts, munitions, software, research or even “cleaning and janitorial services” — were provided under contracts for which Thales never faced open competition from other companies. Instead, all of them are “limited tender” contracts, in which Defence approaches a small number or even just one potential supplier and invites them to tender.
Defence also paid Israeli firm Elbit Systems $159,264 just a week after a drone manufactured by the company was used to murder Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom in Gaza on April 1. The contract — another “limited tender” — is for “explosive materials” and continues until October.
Labor has repeatedly lied about and evaded the question of the government’s payments to Elbit Systems, which maintains a poor human rights record and is a key supplier to the Israel Defense Forces.
An Australian company with strong links to the IDF, NIOA — owner of Barrett Firearms, which provides sniper rifles to the IDF — has received more than $290 million in contract payments from Defence since the Hamas atrocities in October 2023.
