BarbieHeimer Special Series - Oppenheimer missed an opportunity: Gareth Evans

Law and the Future of War

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In the second in our 'BarbieHeimer' series, we turn to the Oppenheimer movie and speak with world-renowned nuclear disarmament advocate and expert, Gareth Evans, about the opportunity the movie missed in re-energising efforts to the nuclear disarmament cause. We speak with him about the need for Australia to return to its former position of influence in arms control, to focus on a policy of 4D's:
- Doctrine of no first use;
- De-alerting early launch status of nuclear weapons;
- reducing Deployments of nuclear weapons; and
- Decreasing the number of nuclear weapons.
Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AC KC FASSA FAIIA is Distinguished Honorary Professor at the Australian National University, where he was Chancellor from 2010-19. He was a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments from 1983-96, in the posts of Attorney General, Minister for Resources and Energy, Minister for Transport and Communications and - from 1988-96 - Foreign Minister. During his 21 years in Australian politics he was Leader of the Government in the Senate (1993-96) and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives (1996-98). From 2000 to 2009 he was President and CEO of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, the independent global conflict prevention and resolution organisation. He initiated the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, co-chaired the Australia-Japan International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, was founding convenor of the Asia Pacific Leadership Network on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN), and co-authored Nuclear Weapons: The State of Play (ANU, 2013 and 2015).

Additional resources:

• Gareth Evans, 'Nuclear weapons:“Oppenheimer” won’t make a difference, but Australia can', The Interpreter, 27 Jul 2023.
• Other publications by Gareth Evans, available here (see in particular: Lowering the Nuclear Temperature: Australia's role; Nuclear Weapons: The State of Play; Revisiting the case for No First Use of nuclear weapons; & Nuclear Disarmament: the global challenge.
• Australia-Japan ICNND Report Eliminating Nuclear Threats , Report of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Co-Chair Yoriko Kawaguchi, 2009.
• George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn, 'A World Free of Nuclear Weapons', The Wall Street Journal, 4 Jan 2007.
• John Hersey, Hiroshima, Snowball Publishing, 1946.
• Ward Wilson Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons, Mariner Books, 2014.
• Ramesh Thakur, 'Four Myths about Nuclear Weapons,' Pearls and Irritations - John Menadue's Public Policy Journal, 4 June 2023.