Australia

Nuclear-weapon endorser

Has not yet joined the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

Status

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

National position

The Australian government announced in 2023 that it “is considering the TPNW systematically and methodically as part of our ambitious agenda to advance nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament”.

In 2022, Australia formally ended its opposition to the treaty when, for the first time, it 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”. 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 2023, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said that the TPNW has “substantial normative value”, but she declined to offer a timeline for Australia’s signature. Her spokesperson said that, in examining the treaty, the government would “engage closely with our international partners – including the United States”.

According to the government’s national defence strategy published in 2024, “Australia’s best protection against the increasing risk of nuclear escalation is US extended nuclear deterrence and the pursuit of new avenues of arms control.” This implicit endorsement of nuclear weapons is incompatible with the TPNW.

Australia is the only state party to a nuclear-weapon-free zone treaty in any region of the world that claims to be protected by the nuclear weapons of another state.

Labor parliamentarians hold a copy of the TPNW in Canberra in 2018. Credit: Martin Ollman

Political developments

The Australian Labor Party, which has been in power since 2022, adopted a resolution in 2018 committing it to sign and ratify the TPNW in government. It was moved by Anthony Albanese, the current prime minister, who 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 and 2023.

Albanese said in 2023 that the government would work examine the treaty carefully and work through the issues “in accordance with the commitments that were made in the [Labor] national platform”.

Three in four federal Labor parliamentarians, including Albanese, have 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 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. Its co-chairs, representing Labor, the Liberals and the Greens, wrote in 2023 that the group stood ready “to work constructively with the Albanese government to ensure Australia becomes a state party”.

In 2025, to mark the 80th anniversaries of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Australian parliament adopted a motion reaffirming “that Australia shares the ambition, with states parties to the [TPNW], of a world without nuclear weapons”. Similar motions were also adopted by state parliaments.

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

Meetings of states parties

Australia observed the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022, the second meeting in 2023 and the third meeting in 2025.

Ahead of the first 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 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.

Australia’s decision to observe the second meeting of states parties in 2023 illustrated its “renewed commitment to a world without nuclear weapons”, Wong said.

Public opinion

A public opinion poll conducted by Essential Research in 2025 found that 68 per cent of Australians believe that their government should sign the TPNW, with 11 per cent opposed and 21 per cent unsure.

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

The councils of more than 40 Australian cities, including Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth, 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 a vote on it.

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 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

Australia

Nuclear-weapon endorser

Has not yet joined the TPNW

Status

National position

Political developments

Meetings of states parties

Public opinion

TPNW negotiations

Nuclear testing in Australia

Founding of ICAN

Further information

Local Partner Organizations

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