Rurawhe Adrian; Salesa JennySPECIAL DEBATESBriefing on Disarmament—Report of Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade CommitteeSPEAKER: I'll just ask members who are exiting to do so quietly and quickly as possible which means taking your conversations outside. Thank you. Hon JENNY SALESA (Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee): Mālō ni Mr Speaker and happy Tokelau Language Week. I move That the House take note of the report of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee on its briefing on disarmament which was initiated on 20 May 2021.We invited the Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control the Hon Phil Twyford to brief us on this issue and I would like to thank the Minister and his officials from the International Security and Disarmament Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as the clerks and officers that assisted in finalising this report. As members of this House will be aware the current global security environment is becoming more fractured increasingly fraught and challenging to navigate. The relative sense of peace and stability that Europe and the rest of the world have enjoyed since World War II has been shattered by Russia's unprovoked unjustified and illegal invasion of Ukraine. Aotearoa New Zealand's approach has not been to despair at the current state of the international security environment and instead the view has been a call to action. Our Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern has made clear New Zealand's strong view that the legacy of Russia's invasion of Ukraine must not be an arms race to a more polarised and dangerous world. What is needed is an equal commitment to international institutions to multilateral forums and to disarmament.This timely briefing on disarmament covered a range of matters in which New Zealand is involved or is taking an interest. This includes multilateral agreements and treaties; progress on nuclear disarmament including our perspective on the 2022 conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and future steps; and emerging disarmament issues autonomous weapons and the militarisation of space and Antarctica. New Zealand is an active participant in multilateral agreements that are aimed at reducing or controlling the use of both nuclear and conventional weapons. This is significant in terms of New Zealand's foreign policy engagement especially in an increasingly charged security environment which includes increased superpower rivalry and the threat by Russia to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine. New Zealand is a signatory to two international treaties concerning nuclear weapons. The first is the 52-year-old Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons which commits the nuclear weapon States—the United States Russia China the United Kingdom and France—to disarmament and return for other countries foregoing the right to acquire nuclear weapons. Aotearoa New Zealand was one of the first signatories to the NPT which entered into force in 1970 and we participated in the recent 10th review conference of the NPT which was held in New York in August of this year. There was a delegation from Aotearoa New Zealand led by the Minister the Hon Phil Twyford; myself as well as the Hon Todd McClay from the National Party were also part of that delegation. The second treaty is the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) which came into force on 21 January 2021 and 50 countries ratified it committing to making nuclear weapons illegal within their territories. I've got to say that New Zealand is one of the strong leaders of this particular treaty. New Zealand participated in the first meeting of the State parties to this treaty which was held in Vienna in June of this year and our Minister the Hon Phil Twyford was the person that represented Aotearoa New Zealand.With regard however to the review conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation on Nuclear Weapons members of our select committee asked the Minister when he came to present what had been New Zealand's aims in going to this conference in New York. The Minister said that the bottom lines were the following: a specific new commitment on disarmament from nuclear weapons States; increased accountability and transparency including a structure for monitoring and reporting on progress between sessions; language recognising the humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons; and a specific mention within the NPT of the prohibition treaty TPNW. Unfortunately however this was not achieved. The draft outcome was actually not signed—Russia did not agree to this treaty.Our committee expressed the view that for progress to be made on the NPT the leaders of the five nuclear States that are party to the NPT must be prepared to meet together with the others and to directly negotiate on disarmament issues. Our Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee also asked about the size the age and the state of the nuclear weapons stockpile held by nuclear weapons States and the Minister replied that overall the numbers of nuclear warheads have reduced from the 63000 that used to be held at the height of the Cold War. However there are still about 14000 nuclear warheads held by NPT nuclear weapons States. Of these 90 percent roughly are evenly split between the United States and Russia with China holding several hundred and the United Kingdom and France holding 200 to 300 each. Experts suggest that we are closer to the use of nuclear weapons than at any other time since the height of the Cold War. Therefore there has never been a greater need for progress on nuclear disarmament.I would like at this point to reflect on the effects of nuclear weapons especially on the Pacific Islands. Nuclear weapons effects on Pacific people have been unimaginable. From radioactive contamination there have been devastating effects on human health environmental degradation and social cohesion has also been affected. In 2020 the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics called the legacy on nuclear testing on the Pacific—and I quote—one of the cruellest examples of environmental injustice [ever] witnessed". From the years 1946 to 1996 300 nuclear tests have been conducted—300 nuclear tests—in the Pacific. So the impact this testing has had on ecology and the environment and especially on the physical and mental health of Pacific people has indeed been profound. When we were at the conference over in New York there was a presentation from the Marshall Islands and some of us actually—she was really quite emotional describing how the people in the Marshall Islands have been affected. They've suffered radiation poisoning. Birth defects leukaemia thyroid and many other cancers to name a few are still prevalent among their people that have been exposed to nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. She also described that four of the islands were partially or completely vaporised and some have become the subjects of medical research and atomic refugees.Unfortunately as I said earlier on in the closing hours of that treaty review Russia blocked the adoption of the document and so the treaty was not signed. We in New Zealand were deeply disappointed at this result but Aotearoa New Zealand remains committed to disarmament and to global advocacy on the use of weapons. We must continue to remain engaged with our commitments to international institutions to multilateral forums and to disarmament. As our Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern has put it at the 2022 NATO Summit—and I quote—we must "put a halt in the production of weapons that create our mutually assured destruction because the alternative is unfathomable." I commend our select committee's report on disarmament to this House. Mālō 'aupito.SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."