NUCLEAR WEAPONS

HON MATTHEW SWINBOURN (East Metropolitan) [11.31 am] — without notice: Thank you, Mr Acting President. I might be in a better state than I was earlier today. I move —

That this house notes the seventy-fifth anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was observed on 6 and 9 August 2020 respectively, and further notes —

(a)  that the coronavirus pandemic starkly demonstrates the urgent need for greater international cooperation to address all major threats to the health and welfare of humankind, including the paramount threat of nuclear war;

(b)  that close to 14 000 nuclear weapons are held between nine nations, presenting an unacceptable risk to humanity;

(c)  the concerning trend in weakening or undermining arms control agreements by nuclear-armed states, including the Iran deal, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Treaty on Open Skies;

(d)  the substantial progress towards entry into force of the 2017 United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which will comprehensively outlaw nuclear weapons and provide a pathway to elimination; and

(e)  that Australia work towards signing and ratifying the TPNW, in line with our international obligations to pursue the elimination of these illegitimate weapons of mass destruction.

Comments and speeches by various members

HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [11.57 am]: I rise to speak on this important motion by Hon Matthew Swinbourn, particularly because the issue of nuclear disarmament has been one of the key concerns for the Greens (WA) since our inception as a party and, indeed, was one of the core reasons I joined the party 30 years ago, back in 1990, utterly inspired by former Senator Jo Vallentine, who of course was integral in establishing the Nuclear Disarmament Party, which was one of the founding parties of the Greens (WA). I am beyond pleased to have a parliamentary debate about the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons and to get Australia to sign the United Nations Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Hon Matthew Swinbourn, the mover of this important and thoughtful motion, Hon Stephen Dawson, Hon Laurie Graham and all my Greens colleagues and I are the only members from this house who are currently listed as having signed the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons pledge—namely, the ICAN pledge. Among other things, the pledge states —

... we consider the abolition of nuclear weapons to be a global public good of the highest order ...

I suggest this is something that everyone in this house could agree on and so I encourage all members to sign on to that pledge because the horrors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima cannot and should not ever be forgotten. Those events should be seared on our conscience. However, most of the nearly 14 000-strong worldwide arsenal is more powerful that the bombs that were dropped on Japan in 1945. Distressingly, I also note that one or both sides of two of the most fraught international borders in the world are armed with nuclear weapons. The world continues to watch the Kashmir nuclear flashpoint with great concern, and, of course, the border between North Korea and South Korea remains tense and volatile. The potential for these tensions to break the seal on nuclear weapons unfortunately remains very real. The continued deliberate withdrawal of the USA from international nuclear non-proliferation treaties is deeply concerning. A number of the other nuclear-armed powers continue to posture with war games and quite provocative language.

The doomsday clock stands at 100 seconds to midnight and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists authors who have set the doomsday clock have said the following about the recent nuclear situation —

In the nuclear realm, national leaders have ended or undermined several major arms control treaties and negotiations during the last year, creating an environment conducive to a renewed nuclear arms race, to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and to lowered barriers to nuclear war. Political conflicts regarding nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea remain unresolved and are, if anything, worsening. US–Russia cooperation on arms control and disarmament is all but nonexistent.

...

The world is sleepwalking its way through a newly unstable nuclear landscape. The arms control boundaries that have helped prevent nuclear catastrophe for the last half century are being steadily dismantled. ...

The demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty became official in 2019, and, as predicted, the United States and Russia have begun a new competition to develop and deploy weapons the treaty had long banned. Meanwhile, the United States continues to suggest that it will not extend New START, the agreement that limits US and Russian deployed strategic nuclear weapons and delivery systems, and that it may withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, which provides aerial overflights to build confidence and transparency around the world. Russia, meanwhile, continues to support an extension of New START.

Nuclear weapons, by their very nature, are a worldwide threat with long-lasting health and wellbeing implications for not only ordinary people, but also ordinary people who were nowhere near the original explosion, and quite likely for their children and grandchildren, as the mutagenic effects of this type of radiation are well known. We have proven ourselves capable of understanding and reacting to a novel threat like the coronavirus pandemic. We have proven ourselves capable of working across jurisdictions and of responding to changes in the national and international contexts. We have also proven ourselves capable of listening to and understanding the science.

There are many issues on which I would like to see us take this cooperative people first and future first approach, and climate change is obviously one of them, but the absolute good of getting rid of nuclear weapons is also one of them. We are citizens of Western Australia, but we are also citizens of the world, and worldwide issues should and do concern and affect us. Just as we call for action to be taken on climate change here in Western Australia, so we can call for action on ridding the world of nuclear weapons, and we do so. I think it is shameful that Australia has not yet signed the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and I ask every single member in this house to raise this issue with their federal counterparts, and to push for a nuclear-free world.

Comments and speeches by various members

Motion lapsed, pursuant to standing orders.

 

Portfolio Category: 
Parliamentary Type: