Australia

Nuclear-weapon endorser

Has not yet joined the TPNW

Status

Australia has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

National position

In October 2022, Australia for the first time abstained from voting on an annual UN General Assembly resolution that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”. This move formally brought an end to five years of Australian opposition to the treaty. (From 2018 to 2021, Australia had voted against the resolution.)

New Zealand and Indonesia, two of Australia’s closest neighbours, welcomed the shift in vote, whereas the United States warned Australia against joining the TPNW, arguing that it could hamper defence arrangements, as the treaty “would not allow for US extended deterrence relationships, which are still necessary for international peace and security”.

Ahead of the vote, the Australian government indicated that it was reassessing its position on the TPNW “taking account of the need to ensure an effective verification and enforcement architecture, interaction of the treaty with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and achieving universal support”. It added that it was engaging constructively with the treaty.

In April 2023, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said that the TPNW has “substantial normative value”, but she declined to offer a timeline for Australia’s signature. In February, her spokesperson said that the government “will consider the TPNW systematically and methodically” and “engage closely with our international partners – including the United States – as part of this process”.

According to the government, it shares “the ambition of TPNW states parties of a world without nuclear weapons” and will examine a number of important questions “to inform its approach to the TPNW in close consultation with partners, and civil society stakeholders”.

Labor parliamentarians, including the current leader, Anthony Albanese, hold a copy of the TPNW in Canberra in 2018. Credit: Martin Ollman

The Australian Labor Party, which has been in power since May 2022, adopted a resolution in 2018 committing it to sign and ratify the TPNW in government. This was moved by Anthony Albanese, who now serves as prime minister and has been a vocal supporter of the TPNW. He said at the time: “Our commitment to sign and ratify the nuclear weapon ban treaty in government is Labor at its best.” Labor reaffirmed this position in 2021.

In March 2023, Albanese said that the government would “work systematically and methodically through the issues, in accordance with the commitments that were made in the [Labor] national platform”.

Three in four federal Labor parliamentarians have also individually pledged to work for Australia’s signature and ratification of the TPNW, as have parliamentarians from the Australian Greens and other political parties. In September 2022, 10 independent federal parliamentarians issued a joint statement urging the Labor government to “make use of every opportunity to advance Australia’s position in support of the [TPNW]”.

A cross-party parliamentary friendship group to promote adherence to the TPNW was established in 2020 and reconstituted in 2022. Its co-chairs, representing Labor, the Liberals and the Greens, wrote in January 2023 that the group stood ready “to work constructively with the Albanese government to ensure Australia becomes a state party”.

According to various policy statements issued by past Australian governments, including the defence white paper of 2016 and foreign policy white paper of 2017, Australia supports the retention and potential use of US nuclear weapons on its behalf.

ICAN campaigners protest on the roof of the Australian foreign ministry in Canberra on 20 September 2017, the day the TPNW opened for signature. Credit: ICAN

Meetings of states parties

Australia attended as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022. A Labor parliamentarian, Susan Templeman, headed Australia’s delegation.

Ahead of the meeting, 55 former Australian ambassadors and high commissioners sent an open letter to the prime minister urging him to act swiftly on Labor’s pre-election pledge to sign and ratify the TPNW in government.

They wrote: “Membership of the TPNW is compatible with Australia’s alliance commitments and will make a positive contribution to the security objectives we share. We have previously signed and ratified treaties – on landmines, cluster munitions and nuclear testing – to which the United States is not a party.”

In January 2023, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said that Australia’s decision to observe the first meeting of states parties was “a demonstration we are engaging constructively to identify realistic pathways for nuclear disarmament”.

“While we still need to ensure the TPNW contains the verification arrangements and achieves the universal support that has underpinned the NPT’s success, and that it does not undermine the NPT, we share the TPNW’s ambition for a world without nuclear weapons,” she added.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws in February 2023 showed that foreign ministry officials had advised Wong against sending an observer delegation to the meeting of states parties, warning that it would carry “significant risks”. However, Wong disregarded that advice, in keeping with Labor’s policy position.

Public opinion

A public opinion poll conducted by Ipsos in 2022 found that 76 per cent of Australians believe that their government should sign the TPNW, with 6 per cent opposed and 18 per cent undecided. A similar poll in 2018 found that 79 per cent favour signing, 8 per cent are against, and 13 per cent are undecided.

Many organisations in Australia have voiced support for the TPNW, including Australian Red Cross, the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and more than 60 religious organisations.

The councils of more than 40 Australian cities, including Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, and Sydney, have called on the Australian government to sign and ratify the TPNW, as has the Australian Local Government Association.

TPNW negotiations

Australia did not participate in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and thus did not vote on its adoption. On the opening day of the negotiating conference, it joined the United States and several other states in protesting the treaty-making process.

In 2016, Australia voted against the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

Earlier that year, it had attempted to derail a UN working group on nuclear disarmament in Geneva that adopted a report recommending that negotiations commence on a new treaty. Australia said that it could not accept the draft report and forced it to a vote.

ICAN campaigners protest at Australia’s diplomatic mission in Geneva during a UN working group on nuclear disarmament in 2016. Photo: ICAN

Nuclear testing in Australia

From 1952 to 1963, the British government, with the active involvement of the Australian government, conducted 12 nuclear test explosions and up to 600 so-called “minor trials” in the South Australian desert and off the West Australian coast.

Radioactive contamination from the tests and trials was detected across much of the continent. Little was done to protect the 16,000 or so test site workers, and even less to protect nearby Aboriginal communities.

Two representatives of those communities, Sue Coleman-Haseldine and Karina Lester, testified at the TPNW negotiations in 2017 about the devastating long-term harm from the tests. In large part due to their advocacy, the preamble to the treaty recognises “the disproportionate impact of nuclear-weapon activities on indigenous peoples”.

In October 2022, Australia said that, as a country that has experienced the consequences of nuclear testing, it “supports the greater attention being given to nuclear legacy issues in our own region and beyond”, while noting that such consequences “were borne disproportionately by our First Nations peoples”.

Sue Coleman-Haseldine, a Kokatha elder and nuclear test survivor, with ICAN’s Nobel peace prize medal in 2018. Credit: Martin Ollman

Founding of ICAN

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was founded in Australia in 2007 with the goal of prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons via a new international treaty. The founders assembled a broad global coalition of organisations to work together to build a groundswell of public opposition to nuclear weapons.

ICAN campaigners in Melbourne, Australia, celebrate the announcement of ICAN’s Nobel peace prize in 2017.

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

Nuclear-weapon endorser

Has not yet joined the TPNW

[HIGHLIGHTS]

Status

Australia has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

National position

Labor parliamentarians, including the current leader, Anthony Albanese, hold a copy of the TPNW in Canberra in 2018. Credit: Martin Ollman

ICAN campaigners protest on the roof of the Australian foreign ministry in Canberra on 20 September 2017, the day the TPNW opened for signature. Credit: ICAN

Meetings of states parties

Australia attended as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022. A Labor parliamentarian, Susan Templeman, headed Australia’s delegation.

Public opinion

TPNW negotiations

ICAN campaigners protest at Australia’s diplomatic mission in Geneva during a UN working group on nuclear disarmament in 2016. Photo: ICAN

Nuclear testing in Australia

Sue Coleman-Haseldine, a Kokatha elder and nuclear test survivor, with ICAN’s Nobel peace prize medal in 2018. Credit: Martin Ollman

Founding of ICAN

ICAN campaigners in Melbourne, Australia, celebrate the announcement of ICAN’s Nobel peace prize in 2017.

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

[PARTNERS]

Australia

Nuclear-weapon endorser

Has not yet joined the TPNW

Status

National position

Meetings of states parties

Public opinion

TPNW negotiations

Nuclear testing in Australia

Founding of ICAN

Further information

Nuclear-weapon endorser

Has not yet joined the TPNW

Status

National position

Meetings of states parties

Public opinion

TPNW negotiations

Nuclear testing in Australia

Founding of ICAN

Further information

Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement

Act for Peace

Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia

Anglican Diocese of Gippsland

Architects for Peace

Arid Lands Environment Centre

Association of Women Educators (AWE)

Australian Catholic Social Justice Council

Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies

The Australian Conservation Foundation

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)

Australian Democrats

Australian Education Union (Victoria)

Australia Education Union

Australian Federation of Graduate Women

Australian Greens

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (Victoria)

Australian Nuclear Free Alliance

Australian Nursing &amp; Midwifery Federation

Australian Peace Committee

Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN)

The Baptist Union of Victoria

Beyond Nuclear Initiative

Canberra Region Anti-Nuclear Campaign

Catholics in Coalition for Justice and Peace

The Campaign for International Co-operation and Disarmament

Climate Landcare Environment Action Network

Conservation Council of the South East Region and Canberra

Conservation Council of South Australia

Council of Australian Humanist Societies

Dulwich Centre Foundation

Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education

Footprints for Peace

Fremantle Anti-Nuclear Group

Friends of the Earth (Australia)

Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Householders' Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE) Inc.

Human Survival Project

Hunter Peace Group

ICAN Australia

Independent and Peaceful Australia Network

International Volunteers for Peace Incorporated

Just Peace Old Inc

The Maritime Union of Australia (Victorian Branch)

Marrickville Peace Group

Medical Association for Prevention of War

The National Tertiary Education Union

Network of Immigration and Refugee Women of Australia

Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre

No Waste Alliance

Oxfam Australia

Pax Christi Australia

People for Nuclear Disarmament

Presse

Psychologists for Peace

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Union (Victoria Branch, Rail Division)

SafeGround

The Search Foundation

Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation