The unique backdrop of Brisbane’s Irish Club was the venue this past week. Unsurprisingly there was a swelling mass of young people assembled, all interested in what Mr. Howard had to say.
Greg Carey esteemed 4BC radio interviewer took the stage and Mr. Howard shimmied to the podium in that distinctive ‘jump suit’ style we all remember so well.
Most were there to get his second edition biography signed. I was there to see what interesting things could be extracted from the conversation with the great man.
The usual Q&A style coverage of Iraq, Immigration and Taxation issues punctuated the evening. Towards the end though something stuck out.
A question was raised regarding relations with important allies and Mr. Howard offered the point that he was interested in seeing deeper ties with India and lamented the fact that Australia hadn’t forged ahead with Uranium sales to this important, populous and democratic ally.
Coincidentally I’ve been studying associated historical questions around Nuclear Weapons recently and was impressed by the conviction of Mr. Howard’s admission.
Muthiah Alagappa Distinguished Senior Fellow at the East-West Center in Washington D.C. covers in depth the question of Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia.
I highly recommend to readers the recent book he edited entitled ‘The Long Shadow’ covering Historical, Strategic and Conceptual Perspectives as well as a deeper analysis of the National Nuclear Strategies of India, United States, Russia and China among others.
When faced with Mr. Howard’s realist perspective on selling Uranium to India I was suddenly faced with live political and moral questions.
Should Australia sell Uranium to India? If Australia does sell Uranium to India in the future what International safeguards will be in place to ensure security for both sides of the deal and prevent such materials once processed from falling into the wrong hands? Should India’s Non-NPT signatory status influence Australia? All live questions!
India’s emergence into the elite ‘power club’ of International Affairs to my mind has already been settled. They are and will remain major players.
Their values and way of life both culturally, economically and politically hark back to our common connection with Great Britain. I believe strongly that Australia’s unique relationship with India places it in an excellent position to catalyze future trade in this and other notable areas.
India’s burgeoning working and middle class is hungry for electricity and rising living standards only confirm that Nuclear and other sources of power generation will dominate future economic configurations in the region.
The question then becomes Is there a way to charter a new course on Nuclear fuel sales that confirms our own commitments on Non Proliferation, whilst also harnessing India’s desire to exploit low emissions Nuclear Power?
With this in mind and with Mr. Howard’s musings echoing in my mind, I raced out of the room to find a pen and notebook and noted down the following on a piece of paper:
‘Zero 2020 DRAFT – Declaration’
By T.W. Humphries
Preamble
The Zero 2020 Declaration: is a non-binding agreement acknowledging the need for ‘Nuclear Non Proliferation’. The Zero 2020 Declaration hence calls on all states, non government agencies, businesses, community organizations and individuals to recognize the need of, call for, and move to Zero Proliferation of ‘New’ Nuclear Weapons by 2020.
Section (1)
The Zero 2020 Declaration seeks to stop all proliferation of ‘new’ military grade weapons and military grade technology by 2020.
Section (2)
Zero 2020 signatories in principle strongly support:
- The Global Zero Movement
- The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT)
- Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE)
Section (3)
Zero 2020 encourages signatories and non-signatories to consider the contents of the non-binding declaration right up to the deadline of 2020.
Section (4)
Zero 2020 signatories acknowledge that total ‘Universal Disarmament’ is not the objective of the Declaration but rather a move to no ‘new’ proliferation by 2020.
Section (5)
The Zero 2020 Declaration and its signatories set out to foster global peace, security and civilian energy supplies by moving towards negotiating a fresh ‘No Nuclear Weapons’ regime post 2020.
The one thought that stuck in my mind was the idea that a non-binding Declaration would only allow for countries to continue proliferating till the deadline and indeed have no effect at all in the post 2020 environment.
On the other hand I would argue that this non-binding declaration should at-least be debated to strengthen the moral and economic case for future trade deals in this area.
Inevitably the proceedings ended with a few sharp questions to Mr. Howard about Cricket that animated what was by all accounts an intriguing evening for all, yours truly included.
Timothy Humphries is a post-graduate Journalism student at Griffith University and writes from Brisbane, Australia.
