Note: Where available, the PDF/Word icon below is provided to view the complete and fully formatted document
South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty Bill 1986
Download PDF 86/95
LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY
SOUTH PACIFIC NUCLEAR FREE ZONE TREATY BILL 1986
Date introduced: House: Presented by:
Purpose.
5 June 1986 House of Representatives Hon. Bill Hayden, M.P., Minister for Foreign Affairs
DIGEST OF BILL
(J
(~
To give legislative effect to Australia's
obligations under the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty.
Background
The South Pacific Forum had its origins in a banana and copra growers' consortium. The Forum is comprised of 13 independent States and the first meeting of the Forum was held in Well ington, New Zealand, in 1971. At a meeting of the South Pac ifi c Forum countri es at Rarotonga on 6 August 1985, Austral ia signed the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (the SPNFZ Treaty). To date nine States have signed the SPNFZ Treaty (i.e., Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji,
Kiribati, New Zealand, Ni.ue, Tuvalu, Western Samoa and Papua New Guinea) and three have ratified the Treaty. Eight States are required to ratify the Treaty before it will come into force. The SPNFZ Treaty is the first such regional treaty to be concluded since the .Latin American Nuclear Free
Zone Treaty (the Tlatelolco Treaty) was signed in 1967.
The SPNFZ Treaty provides that:
no South Pacific country which becomes a party to the Treaty will develop, manufacture, acquire Or receive from others any nuclear explosive device;
86/95 - 2 -
there should be no testin9 of nuclear
explosive devices in the South Pacific;
there will be no stationing of nuclear
explosive devices in the territories of the
existing states;
nuclear activities in the region, including
the export of nuclear material, will be
conducted under stri ct safeguards to ensure exclusively peaceful, non-explosive use;
South Pacific countries retain their
unqualified sovereign rights to decide for
themselves such questions as access to their port and airfields by vessel s or aircraft of
other states;
international law with regard to freedom of the seas will be fully respected;
performance of obligations by parties will be veri fi abl e by i nternat i onal safeguards and
through arrangements provided for in the Treaty to resolve any questions about
compliance; and
_J
parties to the Treaty will be prohibited from dumping radioactive material at sea within the region and measures to ensure the prevention of the dumping of radioactive material by
other states will be taken by the parties.
There are three protocol s to the Treaty. The first )
invites France, the United States and the United Kingdom to apply key provisions of the Treaty to their South Pacific territories. The other two respectively invite the five
nuclear weapon States not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against parties to the Treaty and not to test
nuclear explosive devices within the Zone.
The obligations of the Parties apply to areas over which they have sovereignty and their own actions
el sewhere. The Treaty and its Protocol s are intended to
lead to acceptance by the international community, including the nucl ear weapon states, of a zone in the South Pacifi c
which is free of nuclear weapons and where there is no
86/95 - 3 -
)
iJ
testing of nuclear explosive devices and no dumping of
nuclear wastes.
The Government of Tonga has expressed concern that since the Treaty prohibits signatories from manufacturing, stockpil i ng or testing nuc1 ear weapons in thei r respecti ve territories, the future of all i ances such as ANZUS will be threatened. The government of the Solomon Islands is
concerned that the dumping prohibition is insufficient, while some other South Pacific states, which are reluctant to ratify the Treaty, feel that before China, France, USSR, UK and USA sign the Protocols, the Treaty will be
ineffectual.
The next meet i ng of the South Pacifi c Forum takes pl ace on 8 August 1986 in Fiji. A pre-Forum conference
organised by the Fiji Anti-Nuclear Group have already been working on an alternative to the SPNFZ Treaty. The
alternative treaty would ban all visits to the region by
nuclear ships and those carrying nuclear weapons, ban the use of surveill ance systems that might be targets in a
nuclear war and ban the mining and shipping of uranium.
In May 1985 the Austral ian Democrats introduced a package of six anti-nuclear Bills. The package was
comprised of the:
Australian Airspace (Nuclear Weapons Prohibition) Bill 1985 Australian Waters (Nuclear-Powered Ships Prohibition) Bill 1985 Australian Waters (Nuclear Weapons Prohibition)
Bill 1985 Customs (Prohibition of Importation of Nuclear Hardware) Bill 1985 Customs (Prohibition of Exportation of Nuclear
Materials) Bill 1985 Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Bill 1985
The Government rejected each of the six Bills.
A copy of the SPNFZ Treaty appears as a Schedule to this Bill.
86/95
Main Provisions
- 4 -
Part II of the Bill (clauses 8 to 18) provides for
the prohibition of nuclear explosive devices. People will be prohibited. from:
manufacturing, producing or acquiring a nuclear explosive device (clause 8);
â¢
engaging in research to manufacture or produce a nuclear explosive device (clause 9);
possessing or having control of a nuclear explosive device (clause 10);
facilitating the stationing of a nuclear explosive device (clause 11); or
testing a nuclear explosive device (clause 12).
)
Cl auses 13 and 14 wi 11 extend the above
prohibitions beyond Australia in certain circumstances.
A $100 000 fine or 20 years imprisonment or both will be the maximum penalty for people for breaching the above prohi bitions (i n the case of a company a fi ne up to $500 000) (clause 16).
It is expressly provided in the Bill that nothing in the Bill will prevent visits to Austral ia by foreign
shi ps or pI anes whether nucl ear-armed or not (cl ause 15).
Provisions for safeguards in relation to nuclear )
materi ali s made by a reference inc1ause 17 to the Nuclear -
Non-Prol iferation (Safeguards) Bill 1986. The Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 (as amended by the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Amendment Bill 1986) is similarly referred to by clause 18 with respect to the
prevention of the dumping at sea of radioactive waste.
Part IV of the Bill contains clauses 19 to 29 and
deal s with inspect ions. The Mi ni ster may decl are a person to be a Treaty Inspector for the purposes of the Bill
(clause 19). Clauses 21 and 22 will give Treaty Inspectors broad powers to enter premises and vehicles, either with the occupi er' s consent or by warrant and conduct searches to
86/95 - 5 -
investigate a complaint against Austral ia pursuant to the Treaty or (clause 25) to obtain evidence of the commission of an offence against the Bill. It will be an offence,
puni shabl e by a $1000 fi ne, not to give name and address
details to an inspector (clause 24).
An appl icat ion for a search warrant may be made
over the telephone incases of urgency (cl ause 26). Where it appears that the concealment or destruction of evidence of an offence having been committed is imminent, an
inspector will be able to act without a warrant (clause
27}. It wi 11 be an offence puni shabl e by a $1000 fi ne or 6
months i~prisonment or both, for an occupier of land or the person in charge of a ship or aircraft not to assist an
(-) inspector to conduct a search if so requested (clause 28).
--- - Inspectors will be required to carry identity cards which
must be produced on request (clauses 28 and 29).
Part V of the Bill (clauses 30 to 34) deals with
miscellaneous matters. The Minister will be able to
de 1egate power to an offi cer of the Department (cl ause 30). An article which is the subject of an offence against the
Bill may be forfeited to the Commonwealth (clause 31).
Before a prosecution under the Bill can proceed the
Attorney-General's consent must be gained (clause 33). The public may be excluded from proceedings instituted under the Bill (clause 34). The Governor-General may make regulations consistent with the Bill (clause 35).
The Schedule to the Bill contains the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty.
This Bill forms part of a legislative package
-) comprising:
Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Bill 1986 (Digest 86/94) South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty Bill 1986 (Digest 86/95) Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Amendment Bill
1986 (Digest 86/90)
For further information, if required, contact the Science, Technology and Environment Group.
13 August 1986
Bills Digest Service LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH SERVICE
86/95
Reference
- 6 -
Department of Foreign Affairs, Disarmament Newsletter, No. 10, 16 August 1985.
© Commonwealth of Australia 1986
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
including information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the Department of the
Parl iamentary Library. Reproduction is permitted by Members of the Parliament of the Commonwealth in the course of their official duties.
)
)
