AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL STATEMENT TO THE 11TH NPT REVCON PLENARY
Delivered by the Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP, Australia's Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
27 April 2026
“The most important international instrument in existence to control nuclear proliferation”.
That’s how the then Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam characterised the NPT more than fifty years ago.
It’s a judgment that has stood the test of time.
And fifty years on, the NPT remains, as the practical expression of humanity’s determination to avoid catastrophe.
As we begin this Review Conference, it is worth asking ourselves a sobering question: what would the world look like without the NPT?
Well – we would see more states with nuclear weapons.
And with more nuclear weapons, comes more risk of nuclear accident, or miscalculation, and more potential for conflation and impact across the world.
Confidence in peaceful nuclear cooperation would erode, depriving states of the benefits of nuclear science and technology.
Simply put: without the NPT, the world would be a more dangerous, unpredictable and unfriendly place.
That is what is at stake.
And so our responsibility at this Review Conference is clear.
We must protect the Treaty, we must strengthen it, and we must ensure it continues to deliver in a very different world from the one in which it was negotiated.
At the same time - we must be clear-eyed.
The current security environment is deeply challenging.
Strategic rivalry has intensified and the arms control architecture is under strain.
We see serious compliance concerns, nuclear threats and coercion and, in our own region, the Indo-Pacific, a nuclear build‑up lacking the transparency the region expects.
These realities make consensus harder.
But they also make the NPT more necessary than ever.
In difficult times, we do not strengthen security by abandoning what works.
We strengthen it by holding firmly to it, and by making it work better.
This Conference is not about lowering ambition.
It is about turning ambition into practical action.
President,
There is much we agree on, and many success stories we should not overlook.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to play a critical and irreplaceable role at the heart of the Treaty – supporting safeguards, enabling peaceful uses, and providing confidence to the international community.
Australia is proud to support the IAEA’s vital work.
Australia is committed to nuclear disarmament.
The NPT provides an indispensable framework for these efforts.
The nuclear‑weapon States are in the room, and their engagement is critical.
We also see, in our own region, the tangible benefits of the NPT’s third pillar: nuclear science improving cancer treatment, strengthening biosecurity, supporting agriculture and food resilience.
These are successes worth protecting and expanding.
Of course, we must also confront the hard issues.
We want to see more progress on disarmament, but there are no easy solutions.
Many of the steps are clear: ending explosive nuclear testing permanently through the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty; banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons; developing robust disarmament verification measures – the NPT is central to advancing each of these goals.
At the same time: compliance and accountability matter.
The Treaty works if obligations are met and concerns addressed.
Australia is deeply concerned about continued proliferation challenges, including those posed by Iran and the DPRK. We must discuss these issues frankly, constructively, and with a focus on implementing the Treaty.
Enhanced transparency, accountability and risk reduction can and should be areas of real progress at this meeting.
In a difficult security environment, these are practical, achievable stabilising measures that strengthen implementation of the NPT and serve the shared interest of all states Parties.
Australia knows that credibility in non‑proliferation is built through transparency.
That principle guides our approach in acquiring a naval nuclear propulsion capability under AUKUS.
We are committed to setting the highest non‑proliferation standard, and to working closely with the IAEA to ensure our approach strengthens the non-proliferation and disarmament regime.
President,
This Treaty is too important to allow disappointment, division, or geopolitics to hollow it out.
The NPT has endured for fifty years because states have chosen, again and again, to put it first.
The NPT has endured, because it is implemented every day – through inspections, through reporting and verification, through dialogue, technical cooperation, and peaceful uses.
Quietly – but with impact.
Australia will work constructively with states Parties, to support you in your role as President, and to focus this Conference on what matters most: safeguarding this indispensable Treaty, strengthening its implementation, and ensuring it continues to protect future generations from the gravest of dangers.
Thank you.