6 Results

Last week the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies adopted a historic resolution which seeks to reshape the debate over nuclear weapons – from one focused on Cold War notions of deterrence and military dominance, to one demanding total disarmament because of the potential for these weapons to inflict grave humanitarian and environmental harm.

Last Friday over fifty states at the UN rejected US-led attempts to introduce a lesser standard of arms control. Australia, however, was not one of them, writes NAJ Taylor.

As I explored at length in Al Jazeera in August, a series of WikiLeaks cables relating to cluster munitions demonstrate how Australia actively sought to water down treaty text relating to ‘military interoperability’ – that is, the ability for foreign militaries to conduct joint operations.

Labor caucus today voted not to amend its widely criticised Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill to remove two loopholes that go against the spirit and intent of the international Convention on Cluster Munitions. I will be on the ABC Radio National breakfast program with Fran Kelly on Wednesday morning to discuss the Caucus vote alongside defence minister Stephen Smith.

Fairfax and Dorling should forfeit their claim to Awards. As a self-nominating process, the Fairfax are unfairly promoting the quality of its journalism by using the Walkley’s to validate what has been exposed in local and international media as shoddy journalism.