Australia will not support a resolution to begin negotiations to outlaw nuclear weapons, as it grows increasingly isolated from a global disarmament push. Australia attempts to derail UN plan to ban nuclear weapons Read moreAustralia has spent months in negotiations over the proposed negotiations, seeking to stymie the push for a ban on nuclear weapons, and has sought to press the case for what it describes as a “building blocks” approach of engaging with nuclear powers to reduce the global stockpile of 15,000 weapons. But its posture on nuclear weapons, supporting the US stance that “nuclear weapons continue to play a role in maintaining peace and stability”, is leaving it increasingly isolated in international negotiations. But proponents argue a nuclear weapons ban will create a moral case – in the vein of the cluster and land mine conventions – for nuclear weapons states to disarm, and establish a new international norm prohibiting nuclear weapons’ development, possession, and use. “Like most Australians, I’m strongly of the belief that nuclear weapons should play no role in our defence.

Source: The Guardian October 19, 2016 19:08 UTC