Australian Peace Committee

Australian Peace Committee

Letter 'NO Star Wars'

FOREIGN MINISTER ALEXANDER DOWNER

THE HON. PETER REITH, MINISTER FOR DEFENCE

PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD THE HON. KIM BEAZLEY LAURIE BRERETON

RE: US/AUSTRALIAN MINISTERIALS JULY 31 2001

Dear Alexander Downer and Peter Reith

The undersigned groups are writing to you with respect to the forthcoming US/Australian ministerial meetings which we understand are sceduled on 30 July in Canberra.

We applaud the concern you have expressed to the US government over the CTBT. It is vital that Australia continue to press the US to ratify the CTBT.

We are deeply concerned that the Australian government may either at these meetings or during the meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister John Howard, move Australia toward deeper cooperation with the US on the controversial, and in our view unwise and destabilizing, missile defence program.

We note that the right-wing US Heritage Foundation has already suggested Australian involvement in missile defence, and our concerns on that matter have already been conveyed in writing to Mr. Howard.

We would remind you of the letter from 610 organizations and parliamentarians worldwide (including 19 Australian parliamentarians), which shows clearly that opposition to missile defence is widespread throughout the NGO community and the wider public realm.

We would also remind you that the Australian Senate has twice, on June 29 2000 and on March 1 2001, passed resolutions asking that Australia not support missile defence in any way. We believe these resolutions reflect the view of the broader Australian community with respect to missile defence-related issues.

The opposition emerging in europe to missile defence, in which major acts of civil disobedience take place at missile defence-related installations, show that these expressions of worldwide and national opposition to missile defence cannot be ignored or set aside.

The government has argued that missile defence is innocuous and that 'it is missiles that hurt people'.

This completely misses the point, which is that the deployment of missile defence, particularly if that involves a unilateral setting aside of the ABM treaty, will re-ignite the global nuclear arms race and set back efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons by decades. The re-commencement of a global nuclear arms race is simply too dangerous to be allowed to happen.

Reductions in nuclear warhead numbers and reductions in alert status, flagged by the Bush administration, are on the other hand welcome and are essential steps toward the total and unequivocal elimination of nuclear weapons. However, the deployment of missile defence may well make those vital steps impossible, and is inconsistent with genuine moves toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.

We strongly urge that, when you meet with the US government at the end of July and when Prime Minister Howard meets with George Bush on September 10th, the Australian government make it clear to President Bush and his administration:

i)That we strongly support their suggested deep cuts to nuclear weapons numbers, and the lowering of alert status of ICBMs.

ii)That Australia will in no way support the missile defence program which undercuts the above goals.

iii)That the joint facilities are not available for any purpose that is not within the current ABM treaty, the NPT, and the CTBT.

Yours Sincerely,

• John Hallam, Friends of the Earth Australia
• Dave Sweeney, Australian Conservation Foundation
• Dr Sue Wareham, President, Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) (MAPWA) Canberra, ACT
• Irene Gale AM, Australian Peace Committee SA
• Babs Fuller-Quinn, Australian Peace Committee (APC) Sydney,
• Doreen Borrows, Australian Peace Committee (APC) Central Coast
• Frank Costanzo, Australian Peace Committee (APC) Townsville
• Dennis Doherty, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign (AABC)
• Angela Drury, Joan Carey, People for Nuclear Disarmament (PND) NSW,
• Jo Vallentine, People for Nuclear Disarmament (PND) W.A.
• Pauline Mitchell, Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament (CICD) Melbourne,
• Kirsten Blair and Mark Wakeham, Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT) Darwin, NT,
• Dr Helen Caldicott, (founding president Physicians for Social Responsibility - Nobel Peace Prize 1985)
• Lee Rhiannon MLC, Greens, NSW.
• Anthony Albanese MHR, ALP Federal Member for Grayndler, NSW
• Jann McFarlane MHR, ALP Federal Member for Stirling, W.A.
• Tanya Plibersek MHR, ALP Federal Member for Sydney, NSW.
• Senator Vicki Bourne, Australian Democrats Senator for NSW
• Senator Bob Brown, Greens Senator for Tasmania

Visit to China

Babs Fuller-Quinn went to China in 1987.

Visit to China

Babs Fuller-Quinn went to China in 1987.