My subject today concerns a balance sheet—a balance sheet for disarmament to be precise. I am told that the British scientist, Dame Mary Archer, once said, “It sounds extraordinary but it's a fact that balance sheets can make fascinating reading.”

Australia recognises the critical role that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons plays in preventing uncontrolled proliferation and promoting disarmament, and upholding the treaty has long been a core foreign policy goal. However Australia's disarmament diplomacy has hit a difficult patch. This paper proposes a way forward, focusing primarily on the Non-Proliferation and...

It is time for concrete, demonstrable action to break down the current international stalemate and achieve a world without nuclear weapons, according to this report.

Malcolm Fraser, former prime minister of Australia, writes that “there has never been a better time to achieve total nuclear disarmament; this is necessary, feasible and urgent.”

Richard Tanter of the Nautilus Institute writes that Australia is tied to issues of both nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation through a wide range of bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements to which Australia is a party. Beyond the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, these include the ANZUS treaty, bilateral security agreements with Japan and...