Australia and disarmament
Subtitle: steps in the right direction.
Contributors: Australia. Dept. of Foreign Affairs.
Publisher: Australian Government Pub. Service
Published: 1986
Place of publication: Canberra
Language: eng
Number of pages: 32
Subjects: Nuclear disarmament -- Australia.
Description: "This pamphlet offers a concise survey of the initiatives and other activities which the Government has carried out in support of arms control and disarmament, with particular stress on the last two years. If the present pamphlet is compared with the one prepared in 1984 entitled Uranium, the Joint Facilities, Disarmament and Peace it will be seen that it records not only a greatly expanded effort under virtually every individual heading but also the results of sustained commitment including several concrete achievements. Some may be dismissive of these achievements on the grounds that they are too modest. The Government would be the first to agree that results to date fall short of its ambitions but then our ambition is far reaching: it is no less than to make Australia safer and more secure by making the planet on which we all live safer and more secure.

In a world where animosity, competing interests and ideological divisions are deeply entrenched; a world where weapons and warlike preparations are driven by the tensions and the accumulated momentum of all the years past, every effort to stem and reverse the tide, each measure which contributes to that endeavour, must be prized for it is unquestionably a step in the right direction. Given the scale of the job we have set ourselves no one should be surprised that working for disarmament and a safer world is a long haul task, often a matter of dry, intricate technical detail or elaborate diplomatic manoeuvres; no one should be surprised that reverses are routine and successes, when they are secured, are incremental rather than revolutionary. No one who knows the present Australian Government and the principles which guide it should be surprised that we will not be discouraged by the inevitable frustrations.

On the contrary we will continue to make every effort within our means to ensure that Australia's contribution to great issues of world security and disarmament is a positive and creative one."--Introduction, p. 1.
Notes: At head of title: Department of Foreign Affairs.