There are two senate motions here, one that has already been passed by the Australian senate today, and one that will be voted on tomorrow.

You are encouraged to send a short message to the whole senate, whose email list is right at the end of this email, asking them to vote for the NEW AGENDA MOTION, which will go to vote tomorrow.

The following motion, put on the paper by Senator Andrew Bartlett, passed the Australian Senate this afternoon.

Democrat Leader Senator Andrew Bartlett moved a motion on the nuclear weapons capabilities of the US and China that passed the Senate today with ALP support:
That the Senate
(a) notes:
(i) that the United States Government has 10,600 nuclear warheads, of which nearly 8,000 are considered operational.
(ii) that the Chinese Government has approximately 400 nuclear warheads.
(iii) that the US and Chinese Governments both signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on the 24 September 1996 but neither nation has ratified the Treaty .
(b) Calls on the Government to urge the leaders of the US and China to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty as soon as possible.
Senator Andrew Bartlett
15 October 2003

NEW AGENDA MOTION

The following notice of motion is sceduled for vote tomorrow. You are urged to email the Senate (email list below) and ask them to support it.

NOTICE OF MOTION - Senator Andrew Bartlett 14 October 2003
Mr President - I give notice that, on the next sitting day, I shall move:
That the Senate:
1) Expresses concern about the growing risks posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the potential for further proliferation, plans for the research, development, testing and deployment of new types of nuclear weapons by the Nuclear Weapon States, and the broadening role being given to nuclear weapons in security strategies.
3) Notes the New Agenda Coalition resolution introduced in the 58th United Nations General Assembly 1st Committee entitled Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: the need for a new agenda and:
i) Notes that this resolution is similar to resolution A/RES/57/59 which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002 by a vote of Yes - 125: no - 6: abstain - 36;
ii) Commends the New Agenda Coalition for:
a. setting out a series of practical and necessary steps to curb nuclear proliferation and achieve nuclear disarmament, based on the thirteen disarmament steps agreed by all States parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2000; and
b. making changes to the draft resolution at the current session of the UN General Assembly in order to meet the concerns of States such as Australia which abstained on the vote in 2002, in particular to highlight the dangers of nuclear proliferation and call on all States, including North Korea, Israel, Pakistan, Iran and India, to subscribe to the NPT and accept full-scope safeguards on their nuclear facilities.
4) Notes also the New Agenda Coalition resolution introduced in the 58th United Nations General Assembly 1st Committee entitled Reduction of non-strategic nuclear weapons and:
i) Notes that this resolution is similar to resolution A/RES/57/58 which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002 by a vote of yes - 120: no - 3: abstain - 42;
ii) Commends the New Agenda Coalition for
a. drawing attention to the need to deal with this class of nuclear weapons of which there are over 4000 in the stockpiles of the Nuclear Weapon States; and
b. making changes to the draft resolution at the current session of the UN General Assembly in order to meet the concerns of States such as Australia which abstained on the vote in 2002, in particular changes to address the particular concerns surrounding the tactical nuclear weapons possessed by Russia.
iii) Expresses concern about the threat posed by non-strategic weapons due to their portability, proximity to areas of conflict and probability of pre-delegation in case of military conflict, and thus about the risk of proliferation and of early, pre-emptive, unauthorised or accidental use; and
5) Calls on the Government to support the NAC resolutions in the 58th UN 1st Committee Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: the need for a new agenda (item A/C.1/58/L.73d); and Reduction of non-strategic nuclear weapons (A/C.1/58/L.73c) and consequential votes in the UN General Assembly.

The following press-release was issued this morning by Friends of the Earth and the Australian Peace Committee

IMMEDIATE USE 15/10/2003
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE
SENATE MOTIONS ON NUKE WEAPONS WELCOMED

Australian peace and environment groups Friends of the Earth Australia and Australian Peace Committee today welcomed two notices of motion placed by Senator Andrew Bartlett of the Democrats on the subject of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament are currently the subject of discussion by the United Nations General Assembly's First Committee on peace and disarmament.

The motion by Senator Bartlett to be voted on today points out that the US still has some 10,600 nuclear warheads of which 8,000 are still 'operational', while China, whose president will be addressing Parliament on 24October, the day after President Bush, has some 400. It calls on both nations to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. A motion to be voted on tomorrow, refers to the proposal placed before the UN General Assembly by South Africa, New Zealand, Sweden, Ireland, Brazil, Mexico and Egypt known as the 'New Agenda resolution' urging real action to be taken by the nuclear weapons nations to eliminate their own nuclear arsenals and prevent nuclear proliferation.

According to FOE and APC:
"We congratulate Senator Bartlett for putting up these motions and we strongly urge the Senate to support them. These is a tendency to forget that nuclear weapons are still an issue that threatens the life of humanity and that this never changed. The renewed proliferation of nuclear weapons is more and more on the agenda with their acquisition by the DPRK, with continuing proposals by the US to test a new generation of weapons, and with increasing moves by Russia and China to upgrade and enlarge their arsenals. There is still enough megatonnage to destroy civilisation and most living things, yet there is almost no attention paid to that fact these days. Senator Bartlett's motions in the senate are a timely reminder of the continuing vital importance of this issue."

Contact:
John Hallam 9567-7533 02-9810-2598
Irene Gale AM 08-8364-2291

LIST OF AUSTRALIAN SENATE EMAILS

Warning! This list is ancient and many of these emails will bounce.

This does NOT mean that the list as a whole is useless.

If you have a better list than this please send it to me in text form instead of complaining!

senator.allison@aph.gov.au, richard.alston@dcita.gov.au, senator.bartlett@aph.gov.au, senator.bishop@aph.gov.au, senator.bolkus@aph.gov.au, senator.boswell@aph.gov.au, senator.bourne@aph.gov.au, senator.brownhill@aph.gov.au, senator.calvert@aph.gov.au, senator.george.campbell@aph.gov.au, senator.campbell@aph.gov.au, senator.carr@aph.gov.au, senator.chapman@aph.gov.au, senator.jacinta.collins@aph.gov.au, senator.colston@aph.gov.au, senator.conroy@aph.gov.au, senator.cook@aph.gov.au, senator.coonan@aph.gov.au, senator.cooney@aph.gov.au, senator.crossin@aph.gov.au, senator.crowley@aph.gov.au, senator.denman@aph.gov.au, senator.eggleston@aph.gov.au, senator.evans@aph.gov.au, senator.faulkner@aph.gov.au, senator.ferguson@aph.gov.au, senator.ferris@aph.gov.au, senator.forshaw@aph.gov.au, senator.gibbs@aph.gov.au, senator.gibson@aph.gov.au, senator.harradine@aph.gov.au, senator.heffernan@aph.gov.au, senator.herron@aph.gov.au, senator.hogg@aph.gov.au, senator.hutchins@aph.gov.au, senator.rod.kemp@aph.gov.au, senator.knowles@aph.gov.au, senator.lees@aph.gov.au, senator.lightfoot@aph.gov.au, senator.lundy@aph.gov.au, senator.sandy.macdonald@aph.gov.au, senator.macgibbon@aph.gov.au, senator.mcgauran@aph.gov.au, senator.mckiernan@aph.gov.au, senator.murphy@aph.gov.au, senator.murray@aph.gov.au, senator.newman@aph.gov.au, senator.obrien@aph.gov.au, william.ochee@aph.gov.au, senator.payne@aph.gov.au, senator.quirke@aph.gov.au, senator.ray@aph.gov.au, senator.reid@aph.gov.au, senator.schacht@aph.gov.au, senator.sherry@aph.gov.au, senator.stottdespoja@aph.gov.au, senator.synon@aph.gov.au, senator.tambling@aph.gov.au, senator.tierney@aph.gov.au, senator.troeth@aph.gov.au, senator.watson@aph.gov.au, senator.west@aph.gov.au, senator.woodley@aph.gov.au,