PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

IMMEDIATE USE 17 FEB 2017

PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

HUMAN SURVIVAL PROJECT

AUSTRALIA MUST DO U – TURN ON NUKE WEAPONS POLICY

http://www.pndnsw.org.au/

Reacting to statements yesterday to the effect that Australia would boycott talks to be held at the end of March and once more in June and July of this year at the UN in New York to ban or prohibit nuclear weapons, People for Nuclear Disarmament and the Human Survival Project have called on the government to 'do a U- Turn'.

According to UN nuclear disarmament campaigner John Hallam,

“Australia is not just out of step with the overwhelming majority of the rest of the world on this issue, but is also out of step with its own electorate, who overwhelmingly support a treaty that would outlaw nuclear weapons.”

“More importantly it is acting against its own most vital security interests. The recent moving of the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 2 and a half minutes to midnight, the closest it has been since 1953, shows that the elimination of nuclear weapons isn’t just a feel-good thing to be done in 'some century', but is an immediate and pressing survival priority for civilisation and for humans as a species. If human survival is not a core security priority that 'trumps' everything, I do not know what is.”

“ The government argues that a ban is nothing without the participation of the nuclear weapons states but this is far from the case. A ban will stigmatise and outlaw nuclear weapons and it is absolutely in Australia's security interests to be part of that.”

“The government also argues that we should 'engage not enrage' the nuclear weapons states. Certainly we should engage them – from a position in which nuclear weapons are stigmatised as clearly and unambiguously illegal.”

“In boycotting these vitally important meetings Australia is acting directly contrary to its own security interests. Australia must see the error of its way, do a U- turn, and participate in them in good faith with an abolition agenda, and encourage others to do likewise.”

John Hallam

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