Category Nuclear Disarmament

Towards Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Global Nuclear Disarmament

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.02.2023 (IDN – InDepthNews): Australia and Indonesia have committed to strengthening the global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime and cooperating in building practical nuclear safeguard capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, even as concerns remain over Australia’s push to acquire the nuclear-powered submarines.

An enhanced trilateral security pact, AUKUS, between Australia, the UK and the US signed in September 2021 will enable Australia to become the first non-nuclear country to have nuclear-powered submarines.

“These submarines set a terrible precedent, enabling transfer and/or acquisition of weapons grade highly enriched uranium by non-nuclear weapons states,” says Dr Margaret Beavis, Co-Chair of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Australia. “Safeguards are almost impossible to enforce on a stealth platform such as a submarine”.

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Safeguarding the Pacific from any further nuclear contamination

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 12.04.2022 (IDN-InDepth News Analysis): The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the region’s leading political and economic policy organisation, has appointed a panel of global experts on nuclear issues to provide independent scientific and technical advice to Pacific nations in their discussions with Japan over its intentions to discharge treated nuclear wastewater from the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Island countries, in the past, have been unwilling victims of nuclear weapons testing by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. This has made them staunch opponents of any nuclear-related activities in the region. Fishing and coastal communities are worried about the impact the release of wastewater perceived as “contaminated” will have on the ocean, which is the main source of their livelihood and subsistence.

The PIF Secretary General Henry Puna said in a media release, “Our ultimate goal is to safeguard the Blue Pacific – our ocean, our environment, and our peoples – from any further nuclear contamination. This is the legacy we must leave for our children.”

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Australia’s ‘Quit Nukes’ Campaign Targets Superannuation Funds

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 22.11.2019 (IDN-InDepthNews): A new campaign is encouraging Australians to urge their superannuation funds to exclude nuclear weapons producers from their investments, consistent with the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which has been ratified by 33 states and needs another 17 ratifications to become enforceable under international law – 90 days after the fiftieth instrument of ratification.

A joint initiative of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) and International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the Quit Nukes campaign is an Australian project that works in collaboration with Pax, the producers of the annual ‘Don’t Bank on the Bomb’ report, which documents the global financing of nuclear weapons.

Quit Nukes Director Margaret Peril said: “The campaign is initially targeting the Australian superannuation industry, which currently invests over two trillion US dollars on behalf of its members, making it one of the largest pension fund assets worldwide.”

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