MEDIA RELEASE: Election 2010: Friday, 6th August 2010
Hiroshima Day – and still 23,000 loaded weapons!
The Australian Government is playing games on the issue of nuclear disarmament says the Australian Democrats’ lead Senate candidate in the ACT, Darren Churchill
Mr Churchill says that with 23,000 nuclear weapons poised ready to strike around the world, the Australian Government has done only fractionally more than nothing to move the world forward to total nuclear disarmament
“The Australian Democrats argue that Australia should be at the forefront by leading negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty that would ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
“At the May 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, Australia was noticeably inactive, failing to walk the talk, merely aligning itself with the United States.
“Affirming what was said at conferences held years earlier might sound good, but what is Australian doing to encourage the US to sign the comprehensive test ban treaty which was negotiated back in 1996?
“Sixty-five years after the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we still do not have an international nuclear weapons convention – the progress is definitely snail’s pace.
“Four thousand of the 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world can be activated in a matter of minutes and yet our leaders seem disinterested.
“If we can have a cluster bombs convention, which has just come into effect, why can’t we have a nuclear weapons convention, and why isn’t Australia leading the way?
“Opportunities are going begging – Australians deserve better than the constant insecurity that goes with not taking action on disarmament,” said Mr Churchill
Further comment: Darren Churchill ph. 0412 196 473
Darren Churchill: Australian Democrats Campaigns 
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