Text of Senate Motion March 2001
The Senate-
- recalls its resolution of 29 June 2000 concerning nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and notes the response by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr Downer) of 22 August 2000;
- affirms that Australia must always be prepared to make its own independent judgements on strategic issues and its national security interests;
- considers the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile delivery systems to be a most serious international security issue;
- notes:
- (i) the declared intention of the United States Government to proceed with the development and deployment of a National Missile Defence system, and
- that countries including Canada, Germany and France have expressed strong concerns about the potential adverse implications of NMD, and that Russia and China have expressed strong opposition to the proposed deployment of NMD;
- noting that China has warned it will respond to NMD by increasing its strategic nuclear missile forces, expresses its concern that NMD may trigger a major nuclear build-up in the Asia-Pacific region;
- recalls Australia's longstanding support for the integrity of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as a keystone for nuclear arms control and disarmament;
- considers that sustained multilateral cooperation is fundamental to combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
- expresses concern that NMD is likely to be counter-productive, with the potential to undermine non-proliferation cooperation and derail world progress towards nuclear disarmament;
- deplores the Australian Government's support for the development and deployment of NMD;
- affirms that Australia should not support, or be involved in, NMD research, development or trials; and
- calls on the Australian Government:
- to review any such involvement in NMD through the satellite relay ground station at Pine Gap or other arrangements, and
- to energetically support cooperative efforts to combat ballistic missile proliferation, including strengthening the missile technology control regime, pursuing a multilateral ballistic missile and space vehicle launch notification regime, urging the de-alerting of nuclear missile forces to reduce the risk of an accidental or unauthorised nuclear weapons launch and encouraging further negotiated deep cuts in existing nuclear arsenals.
Source: Laurie Brereton