Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   affirms its support for:

     (i)   the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, and

     (ii)   the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as the essential foundation for the achievement of nuclear disarmament and the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime;

  (b)   notes:

     (i)   ratification by the United States and Russia of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms [New START] on 5 February 2011,

     (ii)   unilateral nuclear arsenal reductions announced by France and the United Kingdom,

     (iii)   the strong working relationship between Australia and Japan on issues of non-proliferation and disarmament, including more recently by establishing the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative to take forward the 2010 NPT Review Conference outcomes, and

     (iv)   the unanimous views presented by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties in Report 106: Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament; and

  (c)   calls for:

     (i)   further cuts in all categories of nuclear weapons and a continuing reduction of their roles in national security policies,

     (ii)   states outside the NPT to join the treaty as non-nuclear weapon states,

     (iii)   ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty by all states yet to do so,

     (iv)   the immediate commencement and early conclusion of negotiations for a verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for weapons purposes,

     (v)   stronger international measures to address serious NPT non-compliance issues,

     (vi)   Iran, Syria and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions,

     (vii)   political and financial support for a strengthened IAEA safeguards regime, including universalisation of the Additional Protocol,

     (viii)   further investigation of the merits and risks of nuclear fuel cycle multilateralisation,

     (ix)   exploration of legal frameworks for the abolition of nuclear weapons, including the possibility of a nuclear weapons convention, as prospects for multilateral disarmament improve,

     (x)   efforts to establish a Middle East zone free from weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, freely arrived at by all regional states, and

     (xi)   efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism within the framework of the IAEA and the Nuclear Security Summits.

I seek leave to make a brief statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion was moved by the Prime Minister yesterday in the other place, reflecting the importance of this issue and its place in the architecture of Australian foreign policy. This motion flows from the work of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, particularly report No. 106. I thank my colleagues and predecessors for their efforts in recognising the consensus view on this matter. I also had the honour this week of meeting the Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Prof. Ramesh Thakur, as part of the United Nations parliamentary group. Prof. Thakur clearly articulated that if we want to deal with the issue of nuclear proliferation we must pursue disarmament. The only way to liberate the world from the terrible potential of nuclear conflict is to disarm, reduce and eventually abolish nuclear weapons.

This motion recognises a number of efforts by Australia and by other nations to contribute to the disarmament regime and to aid its principal instrument, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In 1972 Australia joined New Zealand at the International Court of Justice in actions against nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 1995 we established the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and in 2008 joined with Japan to establish the independent International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. In 2010 we partnered with Japan to establish the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative. But if we are one day to realise the goal of a nuclear weapons-free world, a goal I believe is shared by all parties in the Senate, we must continue the campaign against nuclear weapons as a priority in Australia's international agenda. We must redouble our efforts and constantly recommit to a world without the fear of nuclear weapons. I commend the motion.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I simply wish to associate the coalition with the remarks of Senator Singh. As she indicated, this is a motion that was passed in the House of Representatives this week with the support of all sides. This is an issue that has long been bipartisan. As Mr Abbott said in the House of Representatives, 'Nuclear weapons cannot be uninvented, but they can be and should be controlled and reduced.' That is certainly our aim. We very much support the intent of this motion and are pleased that it will have the support to pass both houses.

Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I seek leave to make a brief statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion arose from the work of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties which is chaired by Mr Kelvin Thomson. The report that reflects this motion was a unanimous one. I thank all members of the committee for their work. Australia's advocacy for nuclear disarmament, which I think is agreed by everyone in this place, would have a lot more credibility but for two factors. One is that we include nuclear weapons in our security policy under the US nuclear umbrella. I believe that should be reviewed. We lend our infrastructure and our foreign policy to the idea that nuclear weapons have security utility when of course they do not. The second factor is that Australia exports bomb fuel to nuclear-weapon states around the world, and that is something that we cannot hide from. We sell the precursor material for nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons, and it is the policy of the government and the coalition to expand that trade. We cannot pretend that the safeguards regime under which we export uranium to nuclear-weapon states in any way prevents that material from being used in nuclear weapons programs. I would also note that a matter of only a week or two ago, as Senator Brown has reminded me, the entire chamber apart from the Greens and the Independents voted in favour of leasing nuclear submarines from the United States Navy, before reversing that position.

I would like to acknowledge that in this resolution we see the government taking the advice of the treaties committee to support a nuclear weapons convention. To date Australia has not had this policy, and so this shift is extremely welcome. I expect now that the government will join the majority of countries on the planet in the General Assembly of the United Nations by supporting the resolution calling for the commencement of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention. Like the landmines, biological and chemical weapons conventions, we need a systematic global framework for abolishing these weapons once and for all.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a very short statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I indicate that I do associate myself with this motion. It is a very worthy motion, but I think it is important to note that the Australian government, and in fact previous Australian governments, have failed to give adequate support deserved by those Maralinga veterans who were exposed to radiation as a result of nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s in South Australia and in the Montebello Islands off Western Australia's coast. That should be noted with some sadness in the context of this motion.

Question agreed to.