Cluster Munitions

Senator Allison asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 12 February 2008:

1. If the Government has not already procured SMArt 155 munitions, does it intend to.
2. In regard to the negotiation of a treaty to ban cluster munitions through the Oslo Process, does the Government: (a) believe that SMArt 155 munitions should be exempted from any treaty that bans cluster munitions; if so, what is the justification for this position; (b) oppose the inclusion of a transition period during which the use of cluster munitions would be permitted under the treaty; (c) support provisions that would prohibit a state party from being involved in the use of prohibited cluster munitions belonging to another country; and (d) support the view that any submunition-based weapons which might fall outside the definition of ‘cluster munition’ under the treaty should, if they are to be acquired by, or are currently in the possession of, the Government, meet certain effects-based criteria (e.g. in relation to the risk of unexploded ordnance) and cumulative technical criteria (e.g. in relation to self-destruct and self-deactivation mechanisms); if so, what specifically would these criteria be.
3. Does the Government support the decision by the Government of Israel not to provide de-miners in Lebanon with maps indicating the locations of cluster munition drops which took place during the war in 2006; if not, is the Government willing to publicly condemn the Government of Israel for that decision.

Senator Faulkner - The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

1. Defence has already acquired the SMArt 155 artillery round and is in the process of introducing it into service in accordance with formal processes.  
2. These specific matters were recently the subject of intense discussion between states at the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions. At this meeting, states put forward a number of proposals regarding these issues. The Government welcomes the attachment of the compendium of proposals, along with the current draft treaty text, to the Wellington Declaration. We will consider these, along with any other proposals put forward by states, as the basis of negotiations at the Dublin Diplomatic Conference (19-30 May 2008).
3. The Australian Government has made representations to the Government of Israel, through our Embassy in Tel Aviv, to provide detailed and comprehensive firing maps to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to assist with the clearance of unexploded ordnance in Lebanon. The Government of Israel advised that it had provided UNIFIL with information on areas suspected of containing explosive remnants of war, including cluster munitions, shortly after the end of hostilities.

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