Labor MP Susan Templeman, moves powerful motion commemorating Pacific nuclear test legacies

To mark two solemn anniversaries of nuclear testing in the Pacific region. Susan Templeman MP - Labor Member for Macquarie and member of the Parliamentary Friends of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) moved a motion in the Federation Chamber in the House of Representatives. Eighty years ago this week, nuclear weapons began devastating our Pacific region - in the Marshall Islands, Mā’ohi Nui, Kiribati, and here in Australia at Maralinga, Emu Field and the Montebello Islands. Over 315 nuclear ‘test’ explosions scarred the lands, waters, bodies, cultures and poisoned the food chains on which the regions people depended on. In attendance were Pacific representatives visiting Parliament to raise the profiles of the anniversaries in Austalia and highlight Australia's moral and regional responsibility to step up efforts in the region to support affected communities, making a clear call for Australia to advance these objectives by signing and ratifying the TPNW. The delegation this week included Mere Tuilau from the Fiji Nuclear Veterans and Families Association, Samuel Barton from the Marshall Islands Student Association, Rev James Bhagwan and Frances Namoumou of the Pacific Conference of Churches, and Australia's First Nations Ambassador and second generation test survivour Karina Lester. In speaking to the motion in the lower house, Susan Templeman MP highlighted the shared histories of nuclear testing in the Pacific region, including in Australia, and the significant leadership of Pacific Island Nations in breathing new life into disarmament endeavours with their early embrace of the TPNW. The motion was also spoken to by Michael McCormack MP -Nationals Member for Riverina, Matt Smith MP - Labor Member for Leichhardt, Helen Haines - Independent Member for Indi, and Joanne Ryan MP - Labor Member for Lalor.