Australia’s disarmament double-speak
At a recent meeting of parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty in Geneva, the Australian government refused to sign on to an 80-nation statement declaring that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
Today at Parliament House in Canberra, ICAN Australia launched an booklet titled Disarmament Double-Speak, which exposes Australia’s mixed record on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
It describes early attempts to acquire nuclear weapons, support for British nuclear testing on Australian soil, participation in US extended nuclear deterrence, resistance to a ban treaty and the inadequacy of safeguards for uranium exports.
As former prime minister Malcolm Fraser writes in the foreword, Australia “should use our position on the UN Security Council to help lead the push for negotiations on a treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons”.No comments yet.
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