Australian ban on cluster bombs must go further

On Wednesday 6 July, the Senate will debate the proposed Criminal Code Amendment (Cluster Munitions Prohibition) Bill 2010.

In principle, the draft legislation is positive, as it ratifies the Australian government’s commitment to ban the use of these weapons under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, of which Australia is a signatory.

However, the proposed legislation contains a number of loopholes which undermine and dilute the main objective of the Convention. These include:

• allowing Australian forces to assist other nations (which are not signatories to the Convention) to use this form of warfare;
• giving foreign forces the ability to stockpile cluster munitions on Australian territory; and
• permitting Australia to stockpile live cluster bombs without specifying any reporting obligations and setting a minimum number, as required by the Convention.

Nor does the proposed legislation make any reference to Australia’s obligations to assist in the clearance of cluster munitions, or provide assistance to the victims. And while the Bill prohibits direct investment in the production of cluster munitions, it does not prevent all investment in companies which produce cluster munitions.

Almost all the victims of cluster bombs are civilians, and one-third of this group are children. Deployed from the air or ground artillery, each cluster bomb can contain hundreds of ÌÓbomblets’. Often they are brightly coloured, and thousands of children have been killed or maimed (often losing their hand and arm) when picking up these objects out of curiosity.

Nigel Spence, CEO of ChildFund Australia, says: “In Laos, the release of more than 270 million sub-munitions during the Vietnam war continues to have a disastrous impact on communities today – over 30 years after the war ended.

“This very real and present danger not only puts children and their families at risk of injury or death, but it also affects the availability of safe play spaces for children and the amount of land available to grow food and to make a living. For children and families living in poverty, the long-term impact of this form of warfare is devastating.”

ChildFund Australia is a member of the Cluster Munition Coalition Australia.

When I got the call asking whether I wanted to appear on MasterChef, I must admit I wasn’t quite as excited as my wife. My first thought was that I’m not much of a foodie so I wasn’t sure how much I would have to contribute – but I have watched the show a few times and was curious to see how it all worked.

I was contacted about a month prior to the filming by law firm Allens Arthur Robinson saying they had been approached to be the focus of a corporate lunch prepared by the MasterChef contestants. They wanted to extend the lunch invitation to their key partners – not just from the business world but from the not-for-profit organisations they support.

ChildFund Australia has a terrific relationship with AAR – their chief executive partner Michael Rose is a member and former chair of our board, and AAR periodically provides extremely valuable pro bono assistance. So we were delighted to be included on the guest list.

At the same time I was apprehensive about sitting down to a lavish lunch when, as an aid organisation, we invest so much time and energy raising funds for people who barely manage two meals a day. We are incredibly fortunate to have such an abundance of nutritious food in this country. But the chance to build awareness and support for our work was too good an opportunity to pass up. ChildFund spends almost no money on PR and advertising, so it’s not often we get the chance to become known to such a wide audience.

I don’t want to give away too much before the episode is aired tonight, so all I’ll say is that it was great to meet Matt Preston – he was really friendly and genuinely interested in ChildFund’s work. Michael Rose was a brilliant host and did a great job bantering with Matt for the cameras. As for the food? You’ll have to watch to see what happens!

See ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence on tonight’s episode of MasterChef Australia @ 7.30pm on Network Ten.