Australia does little for nuclear disarmament, just follows American line

For years, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has urged the Australian government to join the international mainstream in supporting negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear weapons ban – a
nuclear weapons convention. But it has refused to do so, ..

Australia driving the push for nuclear disarmament? Hardly ! Crikey.com November 11, 2011 by Tim Wright Fifteen years ago in The Hague, the International Court of Justice – the highest legal authority in the world – handed down one of its most
contentious advisory opinions. To the chagrin of the nuclear powers, it declared that all governments are legally obliged to disarm, and todo so without unreasonable delay.

“The destructive power of nuclear weapons,” the court remarked, “cannot be contained in either space or time. They have the potential to destroy all civilisation and the entire ecosystem of the planet.” It observed that radiation released by a nuclear explosion would affect health, agriculture and natural resources, and pose “a serious
danger to future generations”.

Through their ordinary use, nuclear weapons – like biological and chemical agents, anti-personnel land mines and cluster munitions – violate fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including prohibitions on the use of weapons that cause unnecessary suffering and are incapable of distinguishing between civilians and combatants.

Every year since the court’s landmark opinion was handed down, more
than 120 governments have voted in favour of UN General Assembly
resolutions affirming its ruling and urging the immediate commencement
of negotiations leading to a treaty that would outlaw and eliminate
nuclear weapons, as has been proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon.
During the Howard years, Australia sided with the United States and
other nuclear powers in voting against the resolution. When Labor came
to office in 2007, Australia’s vote changed to an abstention. Yet it
had gone to the election that year promising to “drive the
international push” for a nuclear weapons convention. An abstention is
hardly a ringing endorsement.

The Rudd and Gillard governments, like those before them, have taken a
cautious approach to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. They
have been unwilling to push for anything more than the United States
will accept. Indeed, Australia’s policies perfectly mirror those of
our powerful nuclear-armed ally.
The Australian government has two main priorities: securing the entry
into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and
negotiating a global instrument to ban the further production of
fissile materials. No one could argue that these are unworthy goals;
but they do fall short of the mark for a government that presents
itself as a disarmament advocate.

Bringing the CTBT into force is purely a non-proliferation measure.
The treaty prohibits the testing of any nuclear explosive device,
whether underground or in the atmosphere. In recent years, the only
nation that has conducted such tests is North Korea. However, the
United States and other nuclear powers have carried out “sub-critical”
tests on a semi-regular basis.

These tests, unlike the full-blown variety covered by the CTBT, do not
involve a chain reaction. Yet their effect is essentially the same:
they allow the nuclear weapon states to make qualitative improvements
to their nuclear forces. While the health and environmental impacts
are greatly diminished, they still pose a significant impediment to
disarmament.

Although the United States has not yet joined the treaty, US President
Barack Obama has urged the Senate to pursue ratification. Some
non-nuclear weapon states have suggested that the only reason the US
administration supports the treaty is that it has developed the
capacity to test nuclear weapons in other ways. And they are
right……
While Australia supports the “long-term goal” of a world without
nuclear weapons (like the United States), it has demanded little in
terms of real disarmament. Its main “disarmament” proposal is that the
nuclear weapon states be more transparent about the size and
composition of their arsenals. The United States is fine with this, as
it has revealed more about its nuclear weapons than other countries.

For years, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has
urged the Australian government to join the international mainstream
in supporting negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear weapons ban – a
nuclear weapons convention. But it has refused to do so, insisting
that it is premature and would derail non-proliferation efforts.

The problem is that an incremental step-by-step approach, focused on
arms control rather than elimination, is unlikely to yield desired
results. Without meaningful progress towards nuclear disarmament, the
threat of nuclear proliferation will only worsen. Nuclear weapons must
be dealt with in the same way as other inherently inhumane weapons –
through a universal ban.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/this-blog-harms/2011/11/11/australia-is-not-a-nuclear-disarmament-champion/