The Road to War is a film montage showing general concern among defence analysts, a medical expert and journalists (Richard Tanter, Hugh White, Sue Wareham, Brian Toohey) that Australia is being set up to be the US proxy in a war with China.
The film was shown to an audience of about 80 people, mainly from the anti-war movement, at the New Farm cinema in Brisbane on US Independence Day, known colloquially by Americans as the Fourth of July.
It is a comprehensive account of United States threats to peace in the world. Using archival and news footage, mainly from Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), filmmaker David Bradbury shows the futility of Australia’s dependence on the United States.
This is an agitational film which tries to motivate people to actively oppose the AUKUS agreement signed by Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Defence Minister Richard Marles. The film rejects the AUKUS purchase of nuclear-powered submarines and exposes the true intent of the deal, that is to make an aggressive threat against China which could end up in nuclear conflict. Although not nuclear-armed, the Virginia Class submarines purchased by Australia would represent a fragment of a greater force that is nuclear armed. Dr Richard Tanter points out how ill-prepared Australia is to have such technology. That is not to say that academic institutions like the University of Queensland is not gearing up to make nuclear physicists of its engineering students. The University of Queensland Senate should be condemned for allowing this to happen given the risks that entry into the nuclear fuel cycle represent. Brisbane (Meanjin) is supposed to be nuclear free. There was mass defiance of governments (Bjelke-Petersen and Hawke) hellbent on bringing Australia into the nuclear fuel cycle by mining and export of uranium. On one day alone (22 October 1977) 418 people were arrested in the ‘valley of death’ below King George Square in Brisbane opposing the mining and export of uranium.
The US military has a vice-like grip on the world. There are over 1,000 US bases in the world. The penetration of the US military and their arm dealers (Lockheed Martin) goes right to the heart of Australia at Pine Gap. More needs to be said about who Lockheed Martin is and its role in promoting war in Australia.
US Bases in Australia
Pine Gap – Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap (JDFPG), near Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt – located on the northwest coast of Australia, 6 kilometres (4 mi) north of the town of Exmouth, Western Australia.
Robertson Barracks – located in Darwin, Northern Territory.
Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station – located near Kojarena 30 km east of Geraldton, Western Australia.
Other U.S. bases in Australia are present and this list does not include ADF bases with U.S. access.
The U.S. military has access to all major ADF training areas, northern Australian RAAF airfields, port facilities in Darwin, Fremantle, Stirling naval base in Perth, and the airfield on the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
An audience member asked David Bradbury what is needed to be done in order to get the film shown widely to audiences in Australia. David has been taking the film around and it has been reviewed on social media and by 3CR in Melbourne. Where is even a copy on YouTube (shown here).
The film is supported by Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) and a local group, Just Peace in Brisbane. IPAN has been doing a lot of work trying to expose the warmongering that is going on in the media and by politicians in Australia. It challenges the need for the ANZUS Alliance. On Budget day in May, I accompanied Just Peace representatives making a submission to the Australian Treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers. These dedicated peace activists have been given short shrift by mainstream political parties. They hope to take their message to the National Conference of the Labor party to be held in Brisbane in August.
There are about 1.4 million Australian residents who identify themselves as having Chinese ancestry. Should Australia go to war with China what will happen to these people? Surely this is a matter of great concern when nearly 6% of the Australian population will be directly affected?
David Bradbury is to be congratulated on the hard work he has put into this film. It cannot have been easy. It was not until the end of the film that I realised that the narrator was the Australian actor, Tony Barry, who died on 21 December 2022 in Murwillumbah. I think Tony Barry should’ve been introduced earlier in the film so that we had a better understanding who the narrator was and the perspective that he represented. Also Tony Barry was not the narrator all the way through the film and that left me a little confused.
Such a film is both difficult and expensive to make. Plus it is terribly time-consuming. I recommend that people watch it. Thanks to all the people at Just Peace who brought this film to Brisbane: Annette, Ross, Vicky, and Mike.
In the Q & A after the film, Annette Brownlie and Violet Coco made the argument that what is needed is better political organisation. Who can argue with that?
Ian Curr
5 July 2023