Key Points
- Australia abstained from voting on the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons for the first time in five years.
- Previously, the country had opposed the treaty.
Anti-nuclear campaigners welcomed the shift in the Australian government's position on a UN treaty banning the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Australia was among 14 nations to abstain from voting. There were 43 nations who voted against the UN resolution co-sponsored by New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ireland. A total of 124 nations voted in favour of the motion.
The Australian branch of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) described the move as "a small but important step forward".
"ICAN looks forward to a formal decision by the Albanese government to sign and ratify the TPNW (the treaty) – in line with its pre-election pledge," the group said.
"The overwhelming majority of Australians support joining this treaty, and progress towards disarmament is more urgent than ever."
ICAN said it was encouraging to see that the majority of nations stood united on the risks of nuclear war, particularly "in light of the war in Ukraine".
It ends years of Canberra siding with the United States by actions on the treaty to ban the deadly weapons and comes as Australia looks to nuclear submarines to boost its navy.
Signatories to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons agree not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.
But the world's major nuclear superpowers, like the US, the UK, Russia, China or India are not signatories to the ban.
Australia's abstention came on Saturday morning, Canberra time, and puts it on the fence of the contentious issue.
It follows Foreign Minister Penny Wong criticising Russia for blocking progress at a major nuclear non-proliferation conference in August.
Russia barred a consensus outcome on the final document at the tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons following a four-week review of the cornerstone disarmament treaty.
At the time Senator Wong said Russia was "deliberately obstructing progress" on meaningful action on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the use of atomic energy".
Australia also recently faced criticism from nuclear powers for joining a Pacific push to help deal with the consequences of nuclear testing.
New Zealand, a signatory to the nuclear weapons ban, has previously pushed for Australia to join.
A total of 93 countries have signed the treaty, including 68 nations that have formally ratified it.
