For more than 20 years NZ’s Labour Party has considered itself a leading authority on nuclear disarmament and its anti nuclear policies have earned the enmity of former ANZUS Treaty partners Aust and the US. But somehow NZ is missing from the ranks of Aust PM Kevin Rudd’s new international anti-nuclear weapons commission which met first time in Sydney this week.

Rudd has appointed representatives from around the world, including China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Russia, UK and US. The 15-member body is tasked with reinvigorating the global debate on the need to prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons and for nuclear disarmament, and to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The first meeting declared the world is headed for another Hiroshima “or worse” because of the risk of miscalculation or accident. Inadequate controls apply to at least 16,000 atomic warheads. Further dangers lie ahead because of the threat of weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

 Copyright © Trans Tasman Media Ltd