Dear Ka Sing,

Support for Australia to sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is strong and only growing.

However, many people are unaware of the new Treaty and its significance. The current Australian Government has not only opposed the Treaty, but is now misrepresenting it. In less than two weeks we will have a new parliament. This is an important time for us to thoroughly explain the Treaty, the opportunity it provides, and to address concerns and criticisms.

To this end, ICAN is producing a detailed 80-page report setting out in one place the compelling case for Australia to join the Treaty.

Will you help us make this new report a reality and distribute it widely?

The report will showcase a diversity of voices including experts, faith groups, unions, First Nations people impacted by nuclear testing and the Australian Red Cross as well as the former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs and former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG. We are confident it will prove an invaluable tool for education and advocacy.

Please donate to enable printing and delivery of the report to every member of the next federal Australian Parliament, and to the many stakeholders in this campaign. If you donate $30 or more we will gratefully post you a copy in July.

Shifting the global debate to the devastating humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, rather than myths about their purported security benefits for selected nations, paved the path to the ban on nuclear weapons that is on course to becoming international law. At a time of growing danger of nuclear war, underscored alarmingly during the recent crisis in Kashmir when both India and Pakistan actively considered using nuclear weapons; and on the cusp of a new Australian Parliament, I hope you will help us build this work to bring Australia onto the right side of history.

Sincerely,

Tilman A Ruff AM

Co-founder, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Nobel Peace Prize 2017)

Associate professor, Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne

Image: speaking at the Hiroshima Day rally in Sydney, August 2018. Credit: Zebedee Parkes.