Jesuit bishop Enrique Figaredo of Batambang Cambodia recently called on the Australian Government to ratify the international Convention on Cluster Munitions, which comes into force on Sunday. His plea will probably fall on deaf ears, but there are strong reasons why it should not.
The Convention outlaws the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of the insidious and destructive weapons. They are large bombs that scatter thousands of small 'bomblets' over a wide area. While the bomblets are intended to explode before or upon impact, this doesn't always occur. The unexploded munitions can lie buried and dormant for many years until they eventually explode and maim or kill innocent civilians. They caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapons.
Australia was one of the 107 countries that adopted and signed the convention in 2008. However we have not proceeded to ratification despite Foreign Minister Stephen Smith declaring earlier this year that 'Australia is committed to a world free from cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war'.
In fact, before it eventually signed in December 2008, Australia was one of the nations actively frustrating international attempts to ban cluster bombs. At the time, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that France and Britain supported the ban, but Australia wanted to maintain the right to engage in joint operations with nations such as the US and Israel which were major users, producers and stockpilers of the weapon. Australia's Defence Department maintained that a ban would 'put Australia at a serious military disadvantage in future conflicts, which would be detrimental to our national interest'.
It appears that national interest and national self-interest are one and the same thing.
Australia dragging its heels on ratifying the cluster munitions ban is unconscionable. But what is worse is that, unlike Kevin Rudd during the 2007 election campaign, current Labor leader Julia Gillard appears to be in no mood to countenance conviction politics, which would be needed to move forward on ratifying the cluster bomb treaty without further delay. This and other moral concerns will always receive less priority when consensus rules.
It's easy to recall the glory days of the Kevin07 era when Rudd said he would ratify Kyoto, and he did exactly that as soon as practicable after his government was elected. This time around, it's consensus all the way. Increasingly it's looking as if the Gillard Government does not deserve to