The Albanese government has conceded it was forced to release more details about defence exports to Israel by a growing awareness that an information vacuum was being “exploited” and allowing misinformation to spread.
The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, said the “level of social division and damage to our community has caused us to rethink the level of transparency needed”.
Conroy has accused the Greens of spreading misinformation about arms exports and sought to reassure Australians alarmed by the increasing number of Palestinians killed in Gaza.
“We care and we’ve been horrified by events,” Conroy said.
“I do want to assure people who are really concerned and horrified about what is going on in Gaza that the Australian government is horrified by the loss of lives and we’ve repeatedly called for a ceasefire and repeatedly called for a two-state solution.”
The government has previously been criticised for a lack of transparency about exactly what Israel-bound export permits have been approved. The Greens have campaigned for Labor to “stop military exports to Israel”.
At a Senate estimates hearing last week, officials gave their most detailed account yet of the eight specific permits issued since the Hamas attacks on 7 October sparked Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza.
Officials said seven permits allowed Australian defence or law enforcement equipment to be sent to Israel for repairs before returning to Australia. The eighth permit was for “a nonlethal item” to return to Israel.
Conroy said on Sunday it was “clear that we need to be more transparent with how the export permit system is working”.
“The Greens exploited what is a reasonably opaque system to get claims out there that are wrong, and that has required the government – working with Defence – to be more transparent while protecting commercial-in-confidence information,” the minister said.
The Greens’ defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said there were “staggering revelations in Senate estimates about the scale of Australia’s two-way arms trade with Israel”.
Shoebridge said officials had also revealed that 66 defence-related export permits remained active for Israel.
“Defence has still not told the public what is in these permits,” he said.
The government has said it is “scrutinising pre-existing export permits to Israel”.
The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, told a pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne on Sunday that the government should “stop making F-35 fighter parts for planes that get used in Israel and rule out all two-way military trade”.
Bandt also called on the government to “cancel the $900m contract that Elbit Systems has for Australian weapons” – a reference to South Korean company Hanwha’s arrangement with Israeli subcontractor Elbit to produce some systems that will be fitted to the Australian army’s own infantry fighting vehicles.
Bandt told those participating in weekly pro-Palestine marches that there was “no place for violence in our politics, against people, politicians, their staff or their offices, and everyone has the right to feel safe”.
“I know that is not what you’re about, but I’m just making this clear for the Labor and Liberal politicians and those in the media who are now attacking your peaceful protests and deliberately trying to discredit you and stop you from speaking out,” Bandt said.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, united in parliament last Wednesday to strongly condemn the Greens for allegedly inflaming tensions at protests outside some federal politicians’ electorate offices.
On Sunday, Conroy sought to reach out to anyone who may have interpreted that as a sign the government was not hearing community pleas for action to protect civilians in Gaza.
Conroy said Australia had called for a ceasefire for the past six months and “for Israel to respect international law”, while also urging the release of hostages held by Hamas.
“Unfortunately, some of those messages get drowned out, but for Adam Bandt to claim we are complicit in genocide is as inaccurate as it is offensive.”
Australia and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding on “defence industry cooperation” in 2017 but Conroy said it had “not come across my desk” in the two years he had been defence industry minister.
He defended Australia’s role in the supply chain for F-35 fighter aircraft, saying it was a longstanding 18-nation consortium and “ultimately the use of military equipment is the responsibility of the defence force involved”.
