Day 69 Thursday 27 August 2026 Cooloongup, WA by Brett Murrell

NUCLEAR FREE?

Australia was a nuclear-free nation up until the last few years, when legislation was quietly changed to allow nuclear submarines into Australia. This is the slippery slope that takes us from a nuclear-free zone, to a nuclear waste dump, and opens up the path to a nuclear weapons nation.

And the question is: did Australians ever get asked? Was it ever raised as a political question? Did Australians get to vote on it — to choose?

Australia, like New Zealand, signed the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone treaty, and we prided ourselves on the no-nuclear position. So what happened? And how?

Below is a summary of the treaties we are signed up to, and the legislation that was introduced to modify our nuclear-free standing.

Infographic: What was binding and what was signed — the five treaties Australia had already signed, and the three agreements and four Acts made to fit the submarines inside them. — The treaty chain, page 1 — five treaties bound us; none was amended. Three agreements and four Acts were made to fit the submarines inside them.

Infographic: What we signed over — Australia may not enrich, make fuel or reprocess, but has accepted permanent custody of the spent fuel with no disposal site identified. — Page 2 — prohibited to us, accepted by us: no enrichment, no fuel-making, no reprocessing — and permanent custody of the spent fuel, with no disposal site identified.

Infographic: Article 14 — the clause and the problem. How weapons-grade uranium comes to sit in a country without nuclear weapons, outside routine inspection. — Page 3 — Article 14: the clause that lets the material leave inspection. No non-nuclear-weapon state has ever used it. Australia will be the first.

A new nuclear safety regulator sitting inside the Defence department, rather than an independent body, should raise alarm bells. The independent civilian regulator has been stood aside for these activities — the new one can be directed by the Minister on national security grounds.

For the internet sleuths: Article 14 needs more digging. The arrangement with the IAEA has not yet been concluded — nothing transfers until it exists — and whether the IAEA Board must approve it, or whether it is settled privately between Canberra and the Secretariat, is still unresolved. That question is live right now.

A modelled strike map centred on the Garden Island naval base near Rockingham, with blast and fallout zones reaching across Perth. — What a targeting picture means: a modelled strike centred on Garden Island reaches across Perth. This is what hosting the establishment puts on the map.

Watch: the video linked with this post. If the player does not load, watch it on YouTube.

The full treaty-chain pages, with every source, are on Modern Movement Australia: AUKUS in plain terms.

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