Against a backdrop of growing international tension and conflict involving nuclear weapons states, Defence Minister Richard Marles told the National Press Club today that the world is on the “foothills of a new nuclear arms race” which “will drive elevated risks to Australia’s security and prosperity over the coming decade, increasing our exposure to conflict and coercion”.

 Minister Marles’ comments were used to justify a major increase in Defence spending and come amid Australia’s increasing defence engagement with the US and the UK—both nuclear weapon states. 

ICAN—the Australian civil society initiative that received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in driving a global nuclear weapons ban treaty, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)—has called on the Australian government to urgently move to advance its long standing commitment to sign the TPNW as a clear and vital regional assurance and risk reduction step to lower nuclear tensions and temperatures.

The call comes as the federal Government continues to accept our AUKUS allies’ policy of “neither confirm, nor deny” as to whether their submarines and aircraft operating in Australian seas and skies are nuclear-capable or nuclear-armed.

“Minister Marles is right in identifying rising nuclear threats—now he and the federal Government need to take meaningful and effective action to reduce them,” said A/Prof Tilman Ruff AO, ICAN Australia co-founder.

“Australia must not facilitate nuclear weapons in our region and needs to send a clear message to our region that Australia does not support or endorse weapons of mass, indiscriminate destruction. Signing the TPNW is both Labor policy and common sense and is our best way to get rid of our worst weapons. When it comes to nuclear weapons Australians have both a right to know and a right to say No.”