UN General Assembly
1998

handful of States remaining outside the NPT to reflect on the possibility that the 187 countries which have decided that the NPT provides greater security than the nuclear- weapons option might be right, and that they â€” the outsiders â€” might be wrong. Australia also calls on them to consider how much more seriously their national security interests would be degraded in a world where the overwhelming majority of States had not embraced the nuclear non-proliferation norm. My country, as I think is well known, has long been a very firm supporter of universal adherence to treaties on international weapons of mass destruction. We have signed all 13 multilateral arms control and disarmament treaties and ratified all of these bar one; ratification of the Ottawa Convention on landmines, I am happy to say, is in progress. Only four other countries can match this record. We remain committed to making a difference where and when we can in building consensus on the way forward, and we will continue to be as diligent and as