We call on the NSW Department of Education to cut all ties with weapons manufacturers and stop allowing the military industrial complex free reign of the classroom. Arms dealers have no place in schools.

The ‘Commercial Arrangements, Sponsorship and Donations Policy’ in NSW Department of Education must be amended. This policy already prohibits companies promoting tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and unhealthy food products from delivering educational programs in schools, it seems like a no brainer to add weapons to that list.

The weapons industry, with the backing of the Department of Defence, has explicitly articulated the intention behind its intrusion into education is to “secure the talent pipeline”. Education should be designed around the needs of students and their communities, not the need of a particular industry to secure an appropriately skilled workforce. Especially not an industry as opaque, morally bankrupt, and influential as the arms industry.

The report “Minors and Missiles” (MAPWA, 2022) revealed that the intrusion of the weapons industry takes many forms including: 

• Sponsorships.
• Events and Exhibitions at careers fairs or the like.
• Competitions (including national competitions).
• Tours of industry premises.
• Direct engagement between industry personnel and students and teachers.
• Guest speaking spots provided to engineers or other company representatives.
• Funding of third party curriculum creators used by State departments of education,  students and teachers.

The corporations that are engaged in these practises include the largest and most powerful weapons manufacturers in the world, such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Boeing, Rheinmetall and Thales. Their products are responsible for causing death, destruction, and human rights abuses worldwide. The arrangements they make with schools are intended to ensure the future weapons industry has a workforce, known as the “STEM Pipeline”. 

The business model of weapons corporations is based on conflict; this industry profits from war, speaks a narrative of insecurity and is exporting corruption and human rights violations. The same companies that are in our schools were not one year ago boasting about how the Ukraine war had boosted their share prices. They have come to regard STEM education as ‘belonging to them’,  to provide their future workforce. 

The various Departments of Education are failing in their duty of care to protect young people from harmful influence, and when pressed during question time former NSW Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell stated that she did not believe that weapons companies were "appropriate" candidates for partnerships with schools. Yet we see such partnerships proliferating across the continent.

We call on the NSW Government to review  the Department of Education Commercial Arrangement, Sponsorship, and Donations policy to remove access and influence by the makers of weapons of war from our schools, and all other jurisdictions do the same for their equivalent policy.