Cluster Munitions

Senator Brown asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 23 June 2008:

Are there any cluster munitions held by the department or anyone else in Australia; if so, who holds them and how many are there.

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

Cluster munitions do not form part of the Australian Defence Force’s operational weapons inventory. Defence does hold some cluster munitions and sub-munitions (mostly inert), but these are not held with any of our operational munitions and are not—in either numbers or configuration—suitable for use by the Australian Defence Force. The munitions are retained to assist in the training of personnel in rendering cluster munitions safe and to assist in the development of countermeasures to cluster munitions.

A principal aim of the Cluster Munitions Convention agreed in Dublin in May 2008 is to prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. Under the text of this convention, the retention or acquisition of a limited number of cluster munitions for training in clearance or destruction techniques, or for the development of counter measures, is permitted.

Defence also holds the SMArt 155, a sensor-fused precision munition for use against tanks and other armoured vehicles, which delivers two sensor-fused precision projectiles. Each projectile has a targeting system designed to identify armoured vehicles, as well as independent and reliable self-destruction and self-neutralisation capabilities. The SMArt 155 does not pose an unacceptable risk to civilians and, under the Cluster Munitions Convention, it is not considered to be a cluster munition.

Defence has no knowledge of any cluster munitions held by anyone in Australia outside the Defence organisation.

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