Heath professionals have expressed grave concern at the Prime Minister’s announcement today of nuclear submarines for Australia. While he has stated that we are not acquiring nuclear weapons, he needs to build trust in that assertion.
President of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia), Dr Sue Wareham, said:
“We call on the Prime Minister to show that he’s categorically ruled out nuclear weapons for Australia by signing and ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The same government that now tells us that they don’t want Australia to become nuclear-armed has thus far furiously resisted signing the ban treaty.”
Ramping up nuclear technology in Australia would make a nuclear weapons capacity far easier to achieve. Such a development would be absolutely disastrous for our security. Most of the world’s governments believe we need to abolish these weapons.
The weapons proliferation risk is made all the more serious by the fact that the submarines are likely to be powered by highly-enriched uranium, which is weapons-grade uranium. To date, there is no country that has nuclear-powered submarines that does not also have nuclear weapons.
The acquisition of nuclear-powered subs would also further lock us into an alliance with a nation that takes us into disastrous wars. They are designed for operating far from home, which for Australia could mean the South China Sea. Why is Australia so foolishly buying into such provocative force projection?
Dr Wareham also warned against Australia provoking an arms race. “Every ramping up of military capacity acts as a signal to others in the region to consider doing the same. Do we really want our neighbours to all develop long-range offensive military capacity? “
At the absolute very least, this proposal needs full debate in our parliament and the Australian community.