At Saturday’s federal election, the Australian public clearly rejected nuclear energy, giving the new Anthony Albanese Labor Government a mandate for bold leadership on issues that truly matter. Banning nuclear weapons is one of them.

In rejecting the Opposition’s nuclear energy proposal, a key part of their election platform,  Australians have rejected the risks, costs and burden of nuclear power. If Australians don’t want nuclear power, then they certainly don’t want any involvement in nuclear weapons. Independent polling verifies this, showing three in four Australians agree that Australia should “end any support for nuclear weapons and sign and ratify” the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). 

Anthony Albanese introduced the 2018 motion committing Labor to sign and ratify the TPNW. This policy has now been reaffirmed twice, in 2021 and 2023.

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created. Today, we have an opportunity to take a step towards their elimination. (Anthony Albanese, December 2018)

In Albanese’s first term as Prime Minister, Australia ended its opposition to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and began to engage with it. Now, Prime Minister Albanese has been given a mandate to sign and ratify. 

There is nothing stable or secure about the geopolitical landscape. Nine nuclear-armed countries have the ability to begin a nuclear war, or to launch a nuclear weapon by accident. This is not the time to wait and see, nor to follow President Trump into nuclear catastrophe.

This August is 80 years since the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Every person under the age of 80 has not lived a day without the nuclear threat hanging over our heads.

Eliminating nuclear weapons is a difficult, but essential task. Australia can be a global leader by demonstrating strength through diplomacy and international law.

The most effective step Australia can take on nuclear weapons? Join the ban. Nothing less will do.