David Shoebridge: Defence weapon exports to human rights abusers an 'accountability vacuum'

But Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has dismissed the criticisms, noting there are "very tight guidelines" around granting licences in line with international and human rights obligations.

The Department of Defence outlined 200 export licences had been granted to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia since the start of 2021 in a recently-answered question on notice.

Probes are under way in Saudi Arabia and Yemen over allegations of war crimes against civilians during the civil war, which first began in 2014.

Similar allegations have been made against Indonesian authorities over their crackdown on Papuan separatists in the country's most eastern region.

Export licences are granted to other countries by the Defence Department but are not routinely broken down by countries.

Senator Shoebridge said it meant there was a lack of transparency over who was receiving Australian weapons and how they were using them.

"The push to become a major arms exporter has led Australia straight into the arms of some of the worst human rights abusers on the planet," he said.

"These are regimes that are willing to use their armed forces, and the weapons we supply them, to target civilians and commit war crimes.

"Australian weapons are helping to fuel the brutal war in Yemen, furthering the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe forcing millions of children into hunger.

"It's a war on children and these shocking new weapons export figures show Australia has blood on its hands.

"With almost zero transparency on the end use of the weapons we sell, there is an accountability vacuum that only encourages human rights abuses."

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The Canberra Times has contacted the Defence Department for comment.

Mr Marles said Australians should feel confident that any export licences granted were done so inline with with strict laws.

"Australians should have a sense of confidence that the way in which we have engaged in exports over the course of the last twelve months, and certainly the way in which we will do so in the future, is consistent with the very tight guidelines that we have and the international obligations that we also have," he said at a press conference on Saturday.

"Every export that we have undertaken in this government has been done with these guidelines in place and these guidelines being adhered to."

The Defence Export Strategy launched in January 2018 in the hopes Australia could one day become a top 10 global defence exporter.

The strategy committed the government to 26 initiatives aimed at overhauling the nation's defence exports capacity by 2028.

However, an audit report, released two years later, showed it had failed to live up to its expectations and was criticised for not gathering basic data.

The global trade in arms is worth more than two trillion dollars with Australia ranking in the top five, alongside India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and China, for arms imports.

Defence estimates the value of its export licences for the 2021-22 financial year reached nearly $6 billion across more than 2000 permits.

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