Australia fails to affirm commitment to nuclear disarmament treaty

We were surprised and disappointed today at Australia’s failure to affirm its support for a nuclear weapons convention – a treaty to ban nuclear weapons and ensure their elimination – at an important meeting of states parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In a statement to the meeting this morning, Australia’s disarmament ambassador Caroline Miller announced that the Rudd Government is committed to playing “a new, more active role in multilateral affairs” with respect to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, but she didn't confirm whether it stands by its pre-election promise to “lead the international agenda for a nuclear weapons convention”.

This commitment was one of the most significant that Labor made on international policy, so it should have received a mention in Australia’s opening statement. We mustn’t wait another year – or longer – before getting fully behind this important initiative. A nuclear weapons convention is our best hope of moving beyond the current stalemate in disarmament negotiations. It isn’t acceptable for any state to adopt a business-as-usual approach at these kinds of forums. The consequences of doing so are too grave.

Australia still has the opportunity to use this meeting as a forum for promoting, publicly as well as behind closed doors, the commencement of negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention. And it has a popular mandate to do so. China this morning expressed strong support for a nuclear weapons convention, and we hope that several other nations will do the same over the next two weeks.