Campaigners have welcomed Westpac’s decision not to renew its contract with Palantir, while calling on other Australian companies and government agencies to cut ties with the US technology firm.
Westpac will not renew its contract with Palantir after weeks of pressure from customers, shareholders and Palestine solidarity groups, according to campaigners.
The decision, reported by Capital Brief on 3 November, makes Westpac the second major Australian company to announce it will walk away from Palantir in two months. Coles confirmed in September that it would not renew its contract with the company when it expires in 2027.
Westpac told Capital Brief it was reassessing some suppliers “as part of a broader technology simplification”.
The Dump Palantir Coalition said thousands of Australians had signed petitions, contacted executives, lodged complaints and protested outside Westpac branches.
More than 40 organisations worked with GetUp and shareholder advocacy group SIX on the campaign.
Remah Naji, a spokesperson for Justice for Palestine Magan-djin, said campaigners had made Westpac’s relationship with Palantir a liability.
“Westpac can call it ‘technology simplification’. We call it people power,” Ms Naji said.
“Westpac didn’t wake up with a conscience. We made its relationship with Palantir a liability.”
She said the decision sent a message to companies continuing to do business with Palantir.
“First Coles. Now Westpac. Every company doing business with Palantir should be asking itself one question: are we next?”
Palantir has supplied technology to Israel’s Ministry of Defence under a strategic partnership signed in January 2024. The company also provides technology to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including a US$30 million system commissioned in 2025 to support the identification, tracking and deportation of migrants.
The coalition cited findings by a United Nations commission of inquiry and a UN special rapporteur in its criticism of Palantir. The company has faced allegations that its technology enables human rights abuses, claims that have been strongly contested by Israel and others.
The coalition also referred to a September 2025 UN commission report that concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, as well as a separate report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese that named Palantir among companies it said were profiting from an “economy of genocide”.
Mustafa Saabi, a spokesperson for the Dump Palantir Coalition, said the campaign against Palantir was part of a growing international movement.
“Palantir is facing a global movement determined to drive it out of our businesses, governments and institutions,” Mr Saabi said.
“This isn’t a public relations problem Palantir can fix with better messaging. It’s a growing movement determined to cost them contracts, customers and money.”
Palantir’s shares fell by as much as 7.3 per cent in US trading on the day Westpac’s decision was reported, temporarily reducing the company’s market value by about US$32 billion.
However, the coalition acknowledged there was no established causal link between the Westpac news and the share price fall. The decline followed Palantir’s quarterly earnings announcement.
The campaigners said Australian public institutions continued to invest in or buy Palantir’s technology.
Australia’s Future Fund held A$114.6 million in Palantir shares at 30 June 2026, after increasing its holdings during the first half of the year.
In April, AUSTRAC awarded Palantir a A$5.06 million contract without inviting competing bids, according to The Canberra Times.
Subhi Awad, another spokesperson for the coalition, said campaigners would now target those relationships.
“Australia’s Future Fund is still investing our public money in Palantir. AUSTRAC is still buying its technology,” Mr Awad said.
“We’re coming for those relationships too.”
The Dump Palantir Coalition said it was preparing a national campaign aimed at ending Palantir’s remaining contracts in Australia and making the company commercially and reputationally toxic.
Palantir and Westpac has not resonded to direct requests for comment.
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