Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In January 2007 the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that they were moving the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock from seven minutes to midnight to five minutes to midnight. They said:

We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices.

This issue can be said, without exaggeration, to mark a line between two starkly divergent human destinies, between a future in which human civilisation—with all its many flaws and challenges—nevertheless manages to move forward to a nuclear-weapon-free world, or a future in which humankind continues to inflict upon itself and the planet the promethium curse of nuclear weapons. The fact that we have existed with nuclear weapons but without nuclear war for several decades should not create the impression that this is a sustainable state of affairs. As long as nuclear weapons exist in the world the chance of their use not only persists; it grows. The reality is that with every passing decade the number of countries in possession of nuclear technology and capability has increased. We now face the further frightening prospect of non-state possession of nuclear weapons.

This notice of motion is timely for three reasons. The first is that the sixth Article XIV (Entry Into Force) Conference of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will be held later this month, on 24 and 25 September. The second is that the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties is currently undertaking an inquiry into nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Its recommendations are intended to contribute to the work of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. The last and perhaps most important reason is that, on this issue, every day is a timely occasion. Every parliamentary and public consideration of the need to work against the threat and the spread of nuclear weapons is timely.

The dual tracks and non-proliferation and disarmament have been identified as the paths to a nuclear-free world. However, recent years have seen global negotiations stagnate. The comprehensive test ban treaty, which bans parties from carrying out any nuclear tests, has been identified as one of the most important steps towards revitalising global efforts to achieve non-proliferation and disarmament. The CTBT is designed to stop both the a priori development of nuclear weapons capability and the enhancement of any existing capability. It is therefore both a non-proliferation measure and an effective step towards disarmament. However, this important treaty, which has already been ratified by 149 countries, cannot come into force until it is also ratified by the following nine countries: United States, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Indonesia, Egypt, Israel and Iran. It is thought by many that US ratification will create the impetus for ratification by other states. In this regard, recent statements by President Obama that his administration will immediately and aggressively pursue US ratification of the comprehensive test ban treaty are very heartening. I note the statement in the President’s inauguration address:

With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat…

We in Australia can count ourselves in the category of old friends. I endorse the remarks of the member for Wills, my colleague and chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, when he said in a recent speech to the Medical Association for Prevention of War that Australia can make a contribution by signalling our support for US nuclear disarmament notwithstanding the benefit we derive from our defence alliance with America. Australia can further contribute by taking the actions enumerated in this motion.

Finally, I want to mention Jo Vallentine, a former Australian senator and long-time antinuclear campaigner and Fremantle community activist. Jo was arrested a couple of months ago in Fremantle while making a robust but peaceful protest against war and nuclear weapons. I am not in a position to comment directly on her arrest, and that would not be appropriate. On this occasion, in speaking about the international effort to combat nuclear weapons through agreements like the comprehensive test ban treaty, I want to recognise the efforts that Jo and others, including Greens Senator Scott Ludlam and Fremantle ALP member and Vietnam veteran Chuck Bonzas, have made and continue to make. It is only through action at every level—government and citizen, local and international—that we can seriously hope to make progress towards a world without nuclear weapons. Otherwise, as perceptively penned by Judith Wright, ‘in one stroke we win the world and lose it’.

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