A global campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons says the Australian opposition's pledge to sign up to a UN ban is a major breakthrough for the Pacific.
Picture taken in 1971, showing a nuclear explosion in Mururoa atoll. Photo: AFP
ICAN's New Zealand co-ordinator said Australia had often been of the belief that US nuclear weapons have offered an umbrella of protection.
But Edwina Hughes said the people of the Pacific - where three of the nine nuclear states tested their weapons - know first-hand that nothing protects from nuclear weapons.
Ms Hughes said that if the Labor party's policy is successful, Australia would set a great example for Pacific countries yet to ink the treaty.
"If Australia does sign and ratify the nuclear ban treaty then that's a really really good example for some of those other states that believe that their security is protected by nuclear weapons when of course we know that the exact opposite is the case."