David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I just do not accept the foundations of your question. I do not accept that there is anything going on here other than the Australian government having formed the view that the convention is appropriate for us and an appropriate instrument for us to support, with us conveying to our United States friends that our commitment to the military alliance remains undiminished. I have not read through those WikiLeaks documents you have given me, but you are right to say the United States is not intending to desist from using these weapons, as I comprehend it. You might very well say the same about a range of other powers, and I note you do not speak of those, but I think they are worthy of attention too.

The United States policy on cluster munitions—as we understand it—is that the United States are likely to continue to retain cluster munitions in their military inventory and reserve the right to use those in future conflicts. They have articulated the notion that cluster munitions would most likely be used in high-intensity conventional warfare, particularly against armoured forces, and, of course, that is typical of state-on-state conflict. Notwithstanding this, the United States have adopted a cluster munitions policy which aims to minimise the potential unintended harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure. That is the sort of move that the Australian government welcomes as a good beginning. The US policy includes a commitment to cease use by 2018 of cluster munitions that, after arming, result in more than one per cent unexploded ordinance across the range of intended operational environments.

We have made our views plain. We have made them plain to our United States friends. The United States obviously has its policy, as, of course, so too do China, Russia, Iran and others. We will continue to advocate in international fora that this convention represents an international norm that the whole community of nations should observe.