Could you be funding the Iraq War? By Emily Bennett
Friday, 19 September 2014
! Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons user ‘Mattinbgn’
Photo: AMP, Commonwealth, Westpac or Macquarie bank branch or ATM machine Despite the geographical distance, Australians are closer to the Iraq war than they think. According to a report released by Crikey, Australians will benefit from the war in Iraq through their superannuation and investments if they are a member of the Commonwealth Bank, AMP Westpac or Macquarie Bank. This return is due to investments all four banks have in manufacturers Raytheon and General Dynamics. Raytheon specialises in air warfare destroyers and General Dynamics specialties range from combat vehicles to weapons systems. As a result, Australia and the United States’ involvement in Iraq will drive up the value of both companies. Commonwealth Bank customer, Margaret Jackson said she was unaware of the connection between these companies and is concerned that this will be the case for other Australians.
“It’s astonishing to think that Australians are contributing to this by giving these banks their business,” she said. “People should be aware of their power as a consumer and the social responsibility of the places they take their money to. Information like this needs to be more transparent because I certainly didn’t know about it,” she said. While Ms Jackson has an investment property, she says she is “morally conflicted” as she does not believe that benefitting from war is right. “My grandson was a rifleman in Afghanistan and my father served in war too. The trauma they’ve experienced is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy,” Ms Jackson said. “I don’t think it would be fair of me to be making a profit from human suffering,” she said. AMP Bank customer, Brian Forner, remains unphased by the return he will receive. “There are many places that don’t exercise a good degree of social responsibility. Think of places like McDonald’s or Facebook,” Mr Forner said. “They’re large companies and large companies often give you the best deals and returns that the smaller places can’t afford. In the end, people want value,” he said. “They’re big companies and they’re supporting even bigger companies but there’s not a lot we can do about it,” he said. According to the report, the bank contributing the most to Raytheon and General Dynamics is AMP bank with “$30 million invested [in Raytheon] on June 30” and “$15 million invested [in General Dynamics] on June 30”. The second highest contributors are the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. !