CAMPAIGN NEWS:
Labor MP Tania Lawrence, moves powerful motion commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki
“Peace is not passive. It requires effort, courage, and above all, memory.”
Just one week out from the 80th anniversaries of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Tania Lawrence, Labor MP for Hasluck, WA, delivered a powerful motion commemorating the 80th anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks in the House of Representatives.
The same motion was introduced to the Senate by Senator Karen Grogan from South Australia.
In speaking to the motion in the lower house, Ms Lawrence solemnly remembered the more than 200,000 victims of the attacks, and noted the trauma and inter-generational legacy of the bombings. Ms Lawrence honoured the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize Winners Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors, for their tireless advocacy over 8 decades to drive forward action on nuclear disarmament. She further acknowledged the suffering and lasting impacts on communities in Australia and the Pacific exposed to nuclear weapons testing.
Lawrence outlined Australia’s history of support for the international legal frameworks that underpin nuclear disarmament, and welcomed the growing number of countries joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
Peace is not passive. It requires effort, courage, and above all, memory. That’s why this anniversary is crucial.
We do not remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki to dwell on the past; we remember them to shape a better future. A future where no child grows up under the shadow of a mushroom cloud. A future where no land is poisoned by radiation. A future where diplomacy, not devastation, is our default.
Let us honour the victims, the survivors, and the advocates with more than words. Let us honour them with action.
The motion moved in the Federation Chamber on Monday 28 July:
Ms Lawrence : To move—That this House:
(1) commemorates the 80th anniversaries of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, which caused the deaths of over 200,000 people and left enduring human, environmental and generational harm;
(2) congratulates Nihon Hidankyo on their 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for their lifelong work to draw the world’s attention to the impact of nuclear weapons, and acknowledges the profound suffering of direct and descendent nuclear bomb survivors (Hibakusha) and nuclear test survivors, including First Nations communities and military veterans affected by British nuclear testing in Australia and the Pacific;
(3) recognises the importance of a robust international legal architecture for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, including the cornerstone Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga) and a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty;
(4) reaffirms that Australia shares the ambition, with States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, of a world without nuclear weapons;
(5) welcomes global efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear war and strengthen disarmament norms; and
(6) calls on the Government to continue engaging constructively in international disarmament forums and to work with allies, civil society, and affected communities to advance practical steps towards a world without nuclear weapons.