2 September 2001
 HOWARD TOLD: TELL BUSH 'NO' TO MISSILE DEFENCE, 'YES' TO N-TEST BAN TREATY
AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE
CAMPAIGN FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DISARMAMENT (CICD)
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA


Parliamentarians, Peace and Environment groups, Trade Unions, and Churches, have told  PM John Howard in a letter, that when he meets President Bush on September 10th, he should press him to:
  • Support the nuclear Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT),  of which Australia has been a major advocate,
  • Implement campaign promises to cut nuclear warhead numbers and lower the alert status of US strategic nuclear weapons,
  • Further he should tell President Bush that Australia's Joint Facilities were available only for activities that are within the ABM treaty, the CTBT, and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

A resolution passed on Thursday by the Australian Senate called on President Bush to reconsider his opposition to US ratification of the CTBT and his intention to deploy a missile defence system, and said Australia should not be involved in research, development or trials of an NMD system.

The letter to Mr. Howard has been signed by 23 federal  and 6 state parliamentarians, and by 31 groups including Friends of the Earth Australia, the Australian Peace Committee,  CICD, Greenpeace Australia-Pacific, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, the United Nations Association, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the ACTU, the United Trades and Labor Council of SA, the CFMEU, and other peace, environment, trade union and church groups.

According to the groups:

"Taking a constructive stand on nuclear weapons is an opportunity for Mr. Howard to restore Australia's now very shabby international reputation. We are calling on the PM, as did the Senate  last Thursday, to impress on President Bush, both the urgent need for the US to get behind the global nuclear disarmament agenda, and the deep concern that is felt worldwide over the Missile Defence scheme. We understand that when Mr. Howard meets President Bush he may want to talk about trade and other matters, but the nuclear disarmament agenda is one of global importance.  It is also one in which Australia as a close ally of the US can truly make a difference. In view of Thursday's vote by the Senate, our Prime Minister is really obliged to take Australian concerns over the nuclear disarmament agenda to the Bush administration, and not to give the US a green light to involve Australia in a scheme that risks re-igniting the global nuclear arms race."

Contact;
John Hallam  02-9517-3903, 02-9810-2598
Irene Gale AM, 08-8364-2291
Pauline Mitchell CICD, 03-9555-3076

Yorkshire CND