Weapons proliferation

On Thursday October 2, representatives of FoE Adelaide (Philip White) and FoE Australia (Jim Green) appeared at a public hearing into the agreement between Australia and the UK on nuclear powered submarines. The hearing was held by the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.

We were joined by David Sweeney of the Australian Conservation Foundation and Tim-Deere Jones, who wrote a report for FoE Australia on the UK nuclear submarine program. He tuned in from Wales — it was the middle of the night for him.

We pointed out some home truths about the nuclear powered submarines that the government proposes to acquire from the US and the UK. For example, nuclear-powered submarines entail serious safety and nuclear proliferation risks, the nuclear waste problem has not been solved, and these submarines will make Australians less safe, not more safe as proclaimed by the government. These are problems that will come back to bite us all eventually.

We demanded that the government conduct a broad-ranging public review into the whole AUKUS nuclear submarine project.

The full hearing can be viewed on the following link:

https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen/ParlView/video/3948797

Our session was up first, but some of the sessions which followed are well worth listening to as well.

Written submissions can be downloaded by clicking the ‘Submissions’ link on the following page:

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Treaties/AUKUSNuclearSubmarine

FoE Adelaide’s submission is submission number 6 and FoE Australia’s submission is number 5 (with Tim Deere-Jones’ report as an attachment).

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has endorsed the Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day, September 26.

The Appeal has been endorsed by over 300 civil society organisations from around the world, including from peace, disarmament, human rights, youth, women’s rights, sustainable development and climate/environmental protection fields – and by over 500 individuals, including legislators, former high-level officials (such as foreign ministers and UN officials), religious leaders, medical practitioners, academics/teachers, youth leaders, private sector (corporate) leaders and others.

The Joint Appeal will be presented to the High-Level Meeting on September 26 by Dr. Deepshikha Kumari Vijh, Executive Director of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and Coordination Team Member for the September 26 Working Group. You can watch the High-Level meeting on UN Web TV. The civil society presentations will come at the end of the session.

You are invited to participate in a social media action ‘Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands‘.