PM flags nuclear prohibition treaty still on agenda despite AUKUS subs deal
Anthony Albanese has signalled Labor still plans to sign an international treaty on nuclear weapons amid concerns about the AUKUS deal.
Anthony Albanese has signalled Labor still plans to sign a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons amid concerns the AUKUS submarine deal will breach Australia’s international obligations on the issue.
Under the trilateral security agreement with the United States and the UK, Australia will become the first non-nuclear weapon state to acquire nuclear-powered submarines by seeking an exemption from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The government has said the submarines will only use nuclear propulsion and would not have nuclear weapons.
Despite this iron-clad assurance, some countries in the Indo-Pacific have raised concerns the submarine deal is a breach of Australia’s existing nuclear non-proliferation treaty obligations, and that it might stop it from ratifying an additional treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons.
Australia made a binding commitment to never acquire nuclear weapons when it ratified the international treaty on non-proliferation 50 years ago but it is yet to sign or ratify a newer treaty created in 2017 that binds member countries to outlawing nuclear weapons all together.
Labor first committed to signing and ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at its National Conference in 2018 and reaffirmed that commitment in 2022.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said Labor would stick with the commitment and said Australia’s clear position was that a world without nuclear weapons “would be a very good thing”.
“We don’t acquire them ourselves, we wish that they weren’t there,” Mr Albanese said after independent Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel asked him if Labor would sign the nuclear prohibition treaty.
“We will do is we will work systematically and methodically through the issues and in accordance with the commitments that were made in the national platform.”
The federal government plans to purchase between three and five US Virginia-class nuclear submarines from the 2030s as a stopgap measure before the first of a locally manufactured SSN-AUKUS class fleet is due to be completed in 2042.
Australia will also host a rotation of US-owned vessels and B-52 bombers that would have the capability to be nuclear-armed.
Industry Minister Ed Husic dodged questions about what these plans would mean for Labor’s plans to sign the nuclear prohibition treaty at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
“I feet like there are treaty obligations that cover this,” he said.
“And I might also certainly invite you to raise this with the Defence Minister and the Foreign Minister as well.
“But we’ve said all along … in terms of the role of the subs and what’s powering them and our treaty obligations — we will not only honour those as a government, but we expect that to be observed as well by our partners.”
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