PM Transcripts

PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA 4 June 1986
The occasion of world Environment Day June) is an opportunity
to emphasise the relationships between the goals of environmental
protection and of the International Year of Peace.
The common theme in the pursuit of peace and the protection of
the environment is people living in harmony with each other and
with their environment. Australians, like all other citizens of
the Earth, should support the cause of a just and lasting peace,
and must carefully manage and nurture the resources which the
environment provides to sustain life.
In our own region, an important element of these twin pursuits is
the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, which I signed at
Rarotonga last year. The Treaty is the product of deeply-felt
regional concerns on nuclear proliferation, nuclear testing and
the dumping of radioactive waste in the South Pacific. It has
important security and environmental provisions. Legislation
currently before the Federal Parliament gives effect to
Australia's obligations under the Treaty.
Australia is also playing a very active role in the development
of a convention for the protection of the environment in the
South Pacific Region.
The world's nuclear and conventional weapons represent enormous
destructive potential. Considerable human and material resources
are devoted to their production. There is a critical need for
substantial, balanced and verifiable reductions in the level of
armaments. The Australian Government attaches high priority to
this objective.
These reductions would lead to a safer world. They would reduce
a major threat to the global environment and could release
significant resources to advance economic and social development.