Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to the Non-Proliferation Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 and I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Non-Proliferation Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 amends the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Act 1987, which is subsequently to be known as the safeguards act; the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Act 1998, the CTBT act; and the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994, the CW(P) Act, which all implement a range of Australian policies and treaty commitments promoting the nonproliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons.

In particular, this bill enables Australia to demonstrate its commitment to strong international measures for the physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities. These measures are essential to counter the heightened risk of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The bill is the main element of legislative steps that will allow Australia to ratify a 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. That amendment requires states parties to establish robust and comprehensive security regimes for nuclear materials and nuclear facilities.

Several new offences are created by the bill, including an offence for conduct against a nuclear facility which causes, or is likely to cause, death or serious injury, or substantial damage to property or to the environment by exposure to radiation or release of radioactive substances. In addition, a new offence of trafficking in nuclear materials is introduced.

The bill also improves the application of Australia’s existing non-proliferation arrangements. It extends the geographical jurisdiction for offences related to the proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons by an Australian citizen or resident anywhere. It also updates penalties for the most serious offences so that these provide a significant deterrent to the commission of such offences, and are consistent with penalties under comparable Commonwealth non-proliferation legislation.

Further, the bill introduces a requirement for a permit to be obtained under the safeguards act where a nuclear or related facility is to be decommissioned. This seeks to ensure that non-proliferation safeguards measures can be effectively applied in the course of decommissioning. It underscores Australia’s ability to apply the principle that planned nuclear activities are fully transparent to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

To ensure that Australia’s domestic arrangements are robust, the bill allows that most provisions implementing the amendment to the physical protection convention can come into effect in Australia ahead of the entry into force of the amended convention.

I thank members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other arms within the Australian government for their contribution to the development of this bill, and I commend the bill to the chamber.

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