The ICAN Cities Appeal was endorsed by the Ipswich City Council, Queensland, on 26th October 2023.

MOTION

Councillor Kate Kunzelmann moved that Council resolves to:

a) Note the significant threat that nuclear weapons pose to communities throughout the world, and the right of our residents to live in a world free of nuclear weapons threat.

b) Write to Ipswich Federal representatives, the Hon. Milton Dick MP and the Hon. Shayne Neumann MP, calling on the Australian Government to sign and ratify the United Nation’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons without delay.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

This notice of motion, submitted by Cr Kate Kunzelmann, is the outcome of a Briefing Session provided to Council on 12 September 2023 by Dr Marianne Hanson, Co-chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

The Notice of Motion supports ICAN’s objective of prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons and calls on Ipswich City Council to advocate to the Australian Government to sign and ratify the United Nation’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

This Notice of Motion aligns with a historic commitment of Ipswich City Council as the first Queensland city to declare itself a first nuclear free zone, made on 16 December 1982.

Quotes attributable to Councillor Kate Kunzelman:

On 12 th September this year, councillors were briefed by Dr Marianne Hanson, co-chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

The Notice of Motion supports ICAN’s objective of prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons and calls on Ipswich City Council to advocate to the Australian Government to sign and ratify the United Nation’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created. Both in the scale of the devastation they cause, and in their unique persistence, spreading genetically damaging radioactive fallout. They are unlike any other weapon.

It is the indiscriminate nature of the damage that makes nuclear weapons so much worse than conventional. There can be no pretence of merely targeting combatants as in conventional weapons but causing death and destruction in the civilian population.

There is the immediate death of many, and the collapse of infrastructure. Then there is the firestorm. Following this is the spread of ionizing radiation, and the very long term effects produced, poisoning the environment, producing long-term health consequences, including cancer and genetic damage. Their widespread use just in atmospheric testing has caused grave long-term consequences.

The use of nuclear weapons by one country and the response of another country will produce a terrifying scenario of mutually assured destruction and a disaster way beyond their boundaries.

Our action here today may seem a small gesture in a complex international negotiation. Some would argue that this is not the business
of a local government. I would argue that this is an opportunity to add our voice to persuading the federal government to move more quickly towards influencing the elimination of nuclear weapons, particularly in light of increasing geopolitical instability.

The residents of Ipswich deserve more certainty of a nuclear weapons free future, and I urge councillors to vote for this motion.