Australia’s part in disarmament meeting in Mexico

About 180 nations, including Australia, are gathering to lay the foundation for a new treaty. Australia is a signatory to the South Pacific Nuclear Zone Treaty

If we are genuine about disarmament it is no longer acceptable to parrot the talking points of the nuclear powers. Instead, in the coming days our government must publicly signal its willingness to actively support discussions around a treaty to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons.

Enough kowtowing – time to ban the bomb The Age, Peter Garrett 15 Feb 14 Even by the horrible metrics of war, the detonation of a nuclear warhead on Hiroshima in 1945 saw destruction of human life, and of the city itself, on a scale previously unimaginable…….

Many countries, supported by organisations such as the Red Cross and the United Nations, have recognised that a circuit breaker is urgently needed. Last year, more than 130 nations and non-governmental organisations met in Oslo at the invitation of the Norwegian government to consider for the first time the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons.

Reports showed that up to 1 billion people would face starvation should a conflict involving nuclear weapons between India and Pakistan break out. The Oslo conference found that no international response plan could ever adequately deal with a nuclear detonation. The human and environmental consequences of a nuclear exchange are so great, and the current progress to eliminate them so slow, that a majority of countries are seeking a new treaty that makes the possession of nuclear weapons illegal..

A global groundswell has been building and a follow-up meeting, this time at the invitation of the government of Mexico, takes place over the next two days. About 180 nations, including Australia, are gathering to lay the foundation for a new treaty. Australia is a signatory to the South Pacific Nuclear Zone Treaty, we are a member of the UN Security Council and we have worked hard on disarmament in the international arena.

While professing support for the principle of disarmament, the position adopted by successive governments is that we will not actively pursue these measures where they conflict with our greater strategic interest in ensuring a credible US deterrence.

It is time for this nexus to be broken. The rationale for deterrence no longer stands. The last Parliament supported a motion calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Yet, at the Oslo meeting our bureaucrats, under the direction of then foreign affairs minister Bob Carr, sat on their hands and did nothing.

Former prime ministers Malcolm Fraser, Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke, foreign affairs ministers, a swag of premiers and numerous eminent Australians have all publicly expressed support for a ban on nuclear weapons. This is achievable considering the successful banning of chemical and biological weapons, landmines and, most recently, cluster munitions. It can be done.

Australia should play a constructive role but independence of mind by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop is needed. If we are genuine about disarmament it is no longer acceptable to parrot the talking points of the nuclear powers. Instead, in the coming days our government must publicly signal its willingness to actively support discussions around a treaty to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/enough-kowtowing–time-to-ban-the-bomb-20140213-32n1p.html#ixzz2tJBt1cf0