Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week, 78 years ago, one of the most atrocious acts was committed. A second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan from a B-29 bomber from America, destroying the Urakami Valley within the port city of Nagasaki. The 22-kiloton explosion killed nearly 150 Japanese soldiers, but it killed more than 40,000 civilians and injured at least 60,000 more. Afterwards, thousands more died of radiation burns, poisoning and cancer in later years.

Nuclear weapons are wrong. They are catastrophic, indiscriminate and cruel. We should commit to putting an end to proliferation of nuclear arsenals. International cooperation should play a crucial role in achieving this. There is a better role nuclear technology can play in our futures—a great example is nuclear medicine—but today we remember the awful act of 1945. We can only honour the memory of the victims and ensure that these weapons are never used again.