27th Mar 2007, 3:38 PM – Senate Motion - Nuclear Weapons - Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Australian Democrats Senator Lyn Allison, which means it was rejected.

Motion text

That the Senate:

(a) notes the resolution of the European Parliament on 14 March 2007 regarding the third session of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons from 30 April to 11 May 2007 in Vienna, Austria, in:

(i) committing the European Union (EU), by consensus, to reviving and strengthening the NPT resolution of the European Parliament on 14 March 2007,

(ii) emphasising the importance of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, describing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their means of delivery as one of the most important threats to international peace and security,

(iii) recalling the statement in the report of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, A more secure world: our shared responsibility, that ‘we are approaching a point at which the erosion of the non-proliferation regime could become irreversible and result in a cascade of proliferation’,

(iv) taking into account the growing international consensus on the urgency of nuclear disarmament, promoted by the New Agenda Coalition and in the Rome Declaration of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Winners (convened by Mikhail Gorbachev and the Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni) of 30 November 2006,

(v) highlighting the role of parliaments and parliamentarians in promoting nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and in this perspective welcoming the efforts of the global Parliamentary Network on Nuclear Disarmament, and

(vi) re-affirming its position that the NPT is the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, the essential foundation for promoting cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and an important element in furthering the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general disarmament in accordance with Article VI of the Treaty;

(b) notes that the resolution:

(i) calls upon all states whose activities violate the non-proliferation regime to stop their unwise and irresponsible behaviour and to comply fully with their obligations under the NPT, and reiterates its call on all states not part of the NPT to accede to the Treaty,

(ii) urges both the Council and the Commission to actively participate in the discussions being held at the Vienna NPT Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting and to make a coordinated, substantial and visible contribution towards a positive outcome of the 2010 NPT Review Conference,

(iii) invites both the Council and the Commission to clarify which steps they envisage undertaking to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to pursue effective multilateralism as stated in the December 2003 EU Strategy against the Proliferation of Materials and Weapons of Mass Destruction,

(iv) affirms that, for multilateral efforts to be effective, they must be set within a well-developed vision of achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world at the earliest possible date,

(v) urges the [EU] Presidency to produce regularly, before the Review Conference of 2010, a progress report on the implementation of each of the 43 measures adopted in the 2005 EU Common Position of 25 April 2005 relating to the 2005 NPT Review Conference, as well as a list of new commitments the Council hopes to achieve at the 2010 NPT Review Conference,

(vi) urges the [EU] Presidency to promote at PrepCom a number of disarmament initiatives, based on the ‘Statement of Principles and Objectives’ agreed upon at the end of the 1995 NPT Review Conference and on the ‘13 Practical steps’ agreed to unanimously at the Year 2000 NPT Review Conference, which should be improved and implemented in order to make progress (to avoid regress or standstill),

(vii) urges, in particular, the [EU] Presidency to break the deadlock on establishing a verifiable Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, to speed up the signature and ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) by all countries, especially those required for it to enter into force and a full stop of all nuclear weapon testing awaiting the CTBT to enter into force, and to prioritise the importance of lowering the risk of nuclear terrorism by developing and enforcing effective export and border controls on sensitive WMD-related materials, equipment and/or technologies,

(viii) calls on the international community to promote initiatives towards an international multilateral process of uranium enrichment under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),

(ix) recommends that the European Parliament send a delegation to Vienna to participate in the NPT PrepCom events and requests the [EU] Presidency to include representatives of the European Parliament in the EU delegation (in accordance with the precedent set by the delegation to the UN Program of Action Review Conference in New York in 2006), and

(x) invites its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the UN Secretary-General, and the governments and parliaments of the member states of the UN, the Director General of the IAEA, the Parliamentary Network on Nuclear Disarmament, Mayors for Peace, as well as to the other organisers of the international conference on nuclear disarmament at the European Parliament, scheduled on 19 April 2007; and

(c) calls on the Australian Government to:

(i) endorse the EU motion in all respects,

(ii) send a cross-party delegation of Australian federal parliamentarians to Vienna to participate in the NPT PrepCom events,

(iii) encourage federal parliamentarians to form an Australian Parliamentary Network on Nuclear Disarmament, and

(iv) encourage mayors to form an Australian Mayors for Peace organisation.