Renewed focus on nuclear weapons

This opinion piece by Dimity Hawkins was published in the Canberra Times, 14 April 2010

Nuclear weapons have been catapulted to the top of the international political agenda as the world confronts two possible futures with or without the unthinkable nightmare of potential nuclear decimation. Having won a Nobel Peace Prize in large part for his stated aim of abolishing nuclear weapons, President Barrack Obama has played a key role in this renewed focus on nukes.

Non-government organisations and civil society groups have welcome this shift, despite reservations about how substantive government commitments really are behind the rhetoric. The Rudd Government is now dragging its feet after talking big on nukes.

The PM's decision not to attend Obama's Nuclear Security Summit this week sends a dangerous signal because as a leading uranium supplier, Australia must be seen as being proactive.

This week's summit in Washington comes hot on the heels of both the new US Nuclear Posture Review and the US-Russian agreement in Prague just last week. Moreover, it is the forerunner to the United Nations nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in May. The summit will bring together one of the largest governmental gatherings on nuclear issues outside the United Nations with over 40 nations expected to attend. From this meeting, many hope that there will be an end to the secrecy around nuclear weapons and a promotion of transparency about safeguarding nuclear materials, verifying disarmament measures and a stemming of the tide of modernisation of nuclear weapons.

Openness and transparency are vital steps towards international cooperation in ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

What this week's summit is unlikely to address sufficiently is the goal of zero. Unless we aim for a pledge of zero nuclear weapons, the risks of these weapons being used by one of those nine nuclear-armed nations will increase.On top of that, the unthinkable risk of nukes getting into the hands of terrorists, or rogue states is ever-present.

In the PM's place, Australia will be represented at the summit by Defence Minister John Faulkner, who touted this week that nuclear deterrence remains central to Australian security plans while ever the US maintains nuclear arsenals. He noted Australia supported US nuclear deterrence posturing by hosting joint military facilities and that as a major uranium supplier, Australia has a particular interest in the issues of nuclear security.

However refreshing the Minister's frankness is, our Government must stop dragging its feet on disarmament measures and face responsibility for our contribution to nuclear insecurity.

The ALP, which promised in the lead up to the 2007 Federal Election to ''drive the agenda on disarmament'', has been disappointing in reiterating Cold War rhetoric even as President Obama speaks of the need for a world without these weapons.

The non-proliferation treaty review conference in May, which Rudd will attend, is the main game. It will be the place where the world will have the best opportunity in recent history to set in motion a nuclear weapons convention a verifiable timetable to abolish nuclear weapons.

While some governments question the political capital they stand to gain from pushing nuclear disarmament in highly demanding domestic settings, or even a nuclear weapons convention which would provide a solid and verifiable road map for eliminating nuclear weapons, civil society is building the momentum and raising the expectation that future generations should live without the threat of nuclear annihilation.

As we see political will on nuclear disarmament growing, there is real potential for civil society and governments to work effectively together.

We mustn't lose sight of the only real security the world expects governments to commit to - the promise of a world without nuclear weapons. In 2010, Australia cannot continue to increase uranium exports to weapons possessors who do not comply with international treaty obligations to disarm their weapons. A clear and careful plan for non- proliferation can only be achieved if it is premised on the larger goal of nuclear disarmament.

A year after winning government, in January 1973 Gough Whitlam ratified Australia's commitment to the non-proliferation treaty, setting Australia on a course as a strategically positioned middle-power country committed to the high-minded goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

Given it is as impossible today as it ever was to imagine a world at peace with nuclear weapons it becomes vital to imagine a world without them. No doubt Whitlam would have expected this goal to have been achieved by now.

Dimity Hawkins is the Campaign Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

This opinion piece was published in the Canberra Times, 14 April 2010