Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

The Democrats also strongly support Senator Milne’s urgency motion. We join the rest of the world in condemning North Korea’s nuclear test, but we urge caution; knee-jerk threats of military action will just inflame the situation.

Australia and nuclear weapons states must also take responsibility for this new crisis, having failed to disarm the 27,000 or so nuclear weapons still in existence and having failed to dissuade India, Pakistan and Israel from taking them up. The complete lack of progress at the New York review of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty last year and the failure to ratify the comprehensive test ban treaty have sent powerful messages to rogue states that different rules apply to those in the nuclear club and those that are not. Despite the devastation that nuclear weapons and their testing have caused, we still do not have an enforceable ban on nuclear testing; disarmament has stalled; and there are almost as many nuclear weapons around now as there were when the nuclear non-proliferation treaty was first signed.

The global council of the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament, of which I am a member, yesterday issued this statement:

As parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, and from countries around the world, we share a concern about the announcement by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea on October 8 that they have tested a nuclear weapon for the first time.

This act increases tensions in North East Asia and is in violation of obligations of North Korea and all other countries to end nuclear testing and work for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.

There have been over 2000 nuclear weapons test explosions conducted by China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, each one contaminating the environment, threatening the peace and stimulating the nuclear arms race. There is no need for any more testing by any country.

We welcome the negotiation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the overwhelming support it has already received. We call on those few States that have not yet ratified the treaty—particularly those with nuclear capabilities including North Korea, China, India, Israel, Pakistan and the United States—to do so.

We also call on North Korea to rejoin the Six Party talks, with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States, for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and to explore the possibility for a nuclear-weapon-free zone in North East Asia. We call on all six parties to refrain from any further provocative actions that could derail these talks, including any threats to use force against any of the parties.

We are encouraged by the international monitoring system developed by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation, which has the technical capacity to detect nuclear tests anywhere in the world. And we look forward to the treaty’s entry into force in order to make available its compliance mechanisms in the case of a treaty violation.

This morning I circulated this to all members of parliament, inviting them to endorse the statement, which will be used to encourage a diplomatic solution and an end to nuclear testing. This is an opportunity for Australian parliamentarians to reinforce their commitment to nonproliferation and to encourage progress on disarmament.

North Korea’s test shows that there is a link between the civil and military uses of nuclear technology. It is a clear sign that we need to take action. The federal government could do that. It could stop exporting uranium to countries that have not ratified the comprehensive test ban treaty. It could use its uranium as leverage to encourage nuclear weapons states to disarm, instead of setting yellowcake as a royalty cash cow. It should halt its current flirtation with uranium enrichment. It is not viable, there is no lack of capacity world wide and it is likely to add to the current provocation of rogue states like North Korea. I urge that cool heads prevail.