CANBERRA, 9 June 2008. MAPW'S President has congratulated Prime Minister Kevin Rudd fon plans announced today for Australia to set up a new international body to push for nuclear disarmament. 

Dr Sue Wareham OAM, who is also an Australian Board Member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said that Mr Rudd should also be applauded for visiting Hiroshima – the first Australian Prime Minister to do so.

“His call for the world to make a fresh resolution to work for a world free of nuclear weapons is timely, Dr Wareham said.

She noted that support for the abolition of nuclear weapons is growing around the world, with initiatives including the successful launch of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICANi) last year.

The PM announced that the Australia would set up the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Commission., to continue the work begun by the Canberra Commission set up under the Keating government in 1975.

Dr Wareham noted that MAPW and ICAN look forward to working with Gareth Evans as head of the new commission, and hope that he will incorporate the roadmap to disarmament set out in the model Nuclear Weapons Convention put forward by ICAN and tabled at the UNi last year.

Read more:

• See the full media release 
• See our Nuclear Weapons Convention page
• Read the PM's Kyoto speech