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Subject: Urgent Request from ICAN – Please make a submission to the AUKUS Pubic Inquiry

Dear friends, 

Thank you for signing our recent declaration to keep Australia free from nuclear weapons. The strong support from civil society organisations has been incredibly powerful in our advocacy to the Australian government. 

To continue this momentum, I wanted to draw your attention to the current independent inquiry into AUKUS and invite you to consider taking part in the submission process if you have not already done so.

The inquiry is not a government process, it has been organised by the Australian Peace and Security Forum to encourage public discussion and debate. Among those leading the inquiry are long-time anti-nuclear activist and former Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, and ICAN Australia’s own Ambassador Karina Lester, a Yankunytjatjra Anangu woman from the APY lands affected by nuclear testing in the 1950’s.  

The inquiry is seeking input from civil society organisations to complement the series of public hearings that have been held across Australia. This is an opportunity for civil society in Australia and beyond to voice concerns about AUKUS. Contributions can be written, oral or in video form and are open until 1 September 2026, see AUKUS Public Inquiry Submissions website for more details 

ICAN Australia has made a detailed submission to the Inquiry’s hearings in Melbourne which you are welcome to endorse or reference.  We warmly encourage your participation  and have prepared the following points that you may wish to draw on:

• Nuclear ambiguity is unacceptable: Australia’s reliance on the US policy to “neither confirm nor deny” whether nuclear weapons are aboard visiting aircraft or submarines normalises dangerous nuclear ambiguity. This creates unacceptable uncertainty and risk. Australia currently has no legal ban on foreign nuclear weapons being brought into Australia, or being launched from Australia. Allowing visits of nuclear-capable craft, especially in this context, is unacceptable nuclear complicity.  Keeping nuclear weapons out of Australia makes us all, and the world, more secure. When it comes to nuclear weapons, we have the right to know, and the right to say no. 

• Prohibition against stationing: Under Article 5 of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga) and domestic law, Australia is prohibited from “stationing” nuclear explosive devices on its territory. While short, transitory visits by foreign vessels or aircraft are permitted, planned rotational deployments, such as hosting US nuclear-capable B-52 bombers at RAAF Base Tindal and US nuclear submarines in Western Australia, risk breaching these legal obligations.

• Breaching legal obligations: According to a legal opinion (on page 7 of this document) obtained by ICAN Australia,the following operations would be directly inconsistent with Australia’s legal obligations against stationing nuclear weapons:

• • Lengthy or semi-permanent visits of nuclear-armed platforms.
  • Rolling visits, where one nuclear-armed vessel or aircraft leaves only to be swiftly replaced by another.
  • Deployments for operational readiness, where visits are conducted with the deliberate purpose of allowing nuclear-armed aircraft or vessels to be deployed militarily directly from Australian soil or waters.

• The solution: To demonstrate genuine commitment to nuclear disarmament and abolition, and a region free from nuclear weapons Australia must join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Please complement these points with other issues, particularly points related to the inquiries key focus areas of Cost, Jobs & Fiscal Impact, Sovereignty & Independence, and Nuclear Non-Proliferation & Environmental Consequences (amongst others).

If it would be helpful to discuss these points further, or if you would like assistance formulating arguments relating to nuclear weapons issues, we would be happy to assist. Thank you again for standing with us.

In solidarity,

Janet

Janet Craven