ANZ urged to stop financing cluster bomb makers

Updated August 4, 2010 07:42:16

In the same week that a major ban on cluster bombs has come into effect, Australia's ANZ bank is being pressured to stop financing companies that produce the munitions. ANZ provides credit to Lockheed Martin, which has produced cluster munitions, and a company that makes fuses used in the bombs. Australia has signed up to the ban - the Convention on Cluster Munitions - but has yet to ratify it and pass national laws. Campaigners hope the bank will take action on moral grounds rather than wait to be forced by legislation.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Mark Zirnsak, social justice spokesperson, Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania; ANZ statement read by Radio Australia's Linda Lopresti; Kelvin Thomson, chairman, Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, Australia

COCHRANE: A postcard produced by campaigners shows six-year old Abdullah, pictured with his left arm missing above the elbow.

It explains the Iraqi boy was sleeping in his home in 2003 when a cluster bomb came through his window, the shrapnel blowing off his arm and tearing open his abdomen.

On the back of the postcard is the address of ANZ's chief executive officer, Mike Smith, along with a message, urging the bank to stop financing the American weapons maker, Lockheed Martin.

Mark Zirnsak is the social justice spokesman for the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania and is part of the postcard campaign.

ZIRNSAK: Members of the community have been sending in postcards to the ANZ, asking them to join those banks globally that have said they won't do business with companies that manufacture cluster munitions - as a way of pushing these manufacturers to get out of the business.

COCHRANE: Cluster bombs are particularly devastating for civilians, with hundreds or thousands of small bomblets scattered over a wide area, posing a risk to those clearing them or to children who pick them up to play with.

Mark Zirnsak says ANZ has taken positive steps in helping facilitate dialogue between Lockheed Martin and the anti-cluster bomb campaigners.

ZIRNSAK: And in that discussion, Lockheed Martin has indicated they'll get out of the business of manufacturing cluster munitions that are banned by this treaty as of 2013. So, that's a really positive step. But at the same time the ANZ has provided finance to another company, L3 Communications, who also manufacture components that go into cluster munitions, particularly fuses.

COCHRANE: And so the campaign goes on. ANZ wouldn't provide a representative to discuss the issue on record, but a spokesperson sent this written statement.

ANZ STATEMENT: ANZ has a clear policy to ensure our involvement in the defence sector is consistent with our commitment to responsible and ethical business practices and decisions. We regularly communicate the policy's intent to our defence industry clients and we are engaged in an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders, such as the Uniting Church, to ensure we have a full appreciation of their concerns regarding these issues.

COCHRANE: The statement continues to stress the bank passes on community concerns to the builders of cluster bombs.

ANZ STATEMENT: ANZ also builds on our relationships with our defence clients to inform them of our policy and to ensure they are cognisant of stakeholder and broader community views regarding these controversial weapons.

COCHRANE: More than a hundred nations have signed a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs, but the key producers - America, China, Russia, Brazil, India, Pakistan and Israel - refuse to sign.

The convention banning cluster munitions came into affect on August 1. Australia has signed the convention but hasn't yet ratified it and put in place national laws to enforce the ban.

However, it's moving in that direction.

The parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has looked at the convention and recommended it be ratified.

The committee also suggests making it illegal for banks to finance companies involved in cluster munitions.

The committee is on hold during the Australian election, but Kelvin Thomson has been chairman while the cluster munitions convention was discussed.

THOMPSON: Well, the Treaties Committee is clearly of the view that Australian entities should not be involved in developing or producing cluster munitions, either directly or by providing funds to anyone who might develop or produce cluster munitions. So, clearly we don't support that activity being undertaken.

COCHRANE: Campaigner Mark Zirnsak, from the Uniting Church, says the political support reinforces their message.

ZIRNSAK: We've raised this with the ANZ, to say, Well, look, even the parliamentarians in the Australian parliament, across all parties in politics, believe that banks in Australia shouldn't be providing finance to companies manufacturing cluster munitions. So, again this is a clear signal that this is not business you really want to be part of and you really shouldn't be profiting from being engaged with companies that continue to manufacture this abhorrent weapon.