Nobel Peace Prize winners urge Australia to adopt nuclear weapons ban treaty

Anti-nuclear campaigners say they hope the prize encourages the Australian government, and nuclear-armed states, to adopt the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

ICAN Members Dimity Hawkins, Tim Wright and Tilman Ruff at the Victorian Trades Hall Council in Carlton, Melbourne Source: AAP

An Australian-born campaign to abolish nuclear weapons has won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

Warning of the risk of nuclear war, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

ICAN started a decade ago in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, emerging from a discussion between a group of campaigners.

Years of advocacy by ICAN saw 122 non-nuclear nations -- including New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand -- adopt the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in July.

It is the first multilateral legally binding instrument for nuclear disarmament in decades.

But the treaty only comes into force, after 50 countries ratify it.

The Asia-Pacific director of the group, Tim Wright, says he hopes the Nobel Peace Prize increases the momentum for more countries to adopt the treaty, including Australia.