More than 700 prominent Australians — including former prime
ministers, defense ministers, and Catholic bishops and priests — have
signed onto a statement calling on their country’s government to adopt
a “nuclear-weapons-free” defense posture and to take steps to initiate
a global treaty to abolish nuclear arsenals.

The statement, which was put together by Australians for a Nuclear
Weapons Convention and announced Jan. 25, includes signatures from 713
Australians who have received the Order of Australia, an honor granted
by Queen Elizabeth II to note achievement or “meritorious service” and
similar to a knighthood in the United Kingdom.

Among the Catholics who have signed onto the statement is Cardinal
Edward Clancy, who served as the archbishop of Sydney from 1983 to
2001. Jesuit Fr. Frank Brennan, former chairman of the country’s
National Human Rights Consultation Committee, and Fr. Michael Tate, a
former ambassador to the Holy See, have also signed.

Tim Wright, coordinator of the Australian chapter of the International
Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said in an email that the
statement should be seen as a “very significant development given the
prominence of the people involved.”

While the signatories have not called for an end to Australia’s
military alliance with the U.S., Wright said, they have called for “an
end to Australia’s participation in U.S. extended nuclear deterrence”
and for their government to “reject, categorically, these immoral,
inhuman weapons.”

Tate, who served nearly two decades in various political roles — from
the Australian Senate, to government minister, to ambassador — before
entering the priesthood in 2000, said in an email that he decided to
sign on to the statement partly because the church is entering a “new
phase” in “querying the legitimacy of the use of armed force.”

Beyond that query, however, the priest also said it is “difficult to
see how the use of nuclear weapons, even tactical, could be
justified.”

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Joshua J. McElwee