M51

17 May 1995

MR JOHN CARLSON: REAPPOINTMENT AS DIRECTOR OF SAFEGUARDS

AUSTRALIAN SAFEGUARDS OFFICE

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Gareth Evans, today announced the reappointment of Mr John Carlson as Director of Safeguards for a five-year term. The appointment was approved by Executive Council on 11 May 1995. Mr Carlson was first appointed to the position in 1989 for three years and was subsequently reappointed for a further three years in 1992.

Mr Carlson brings a strong mix of policy, management and leadership experience to the position. He has played a key role, both within Australia and internationally, in developing new safeguards approaches, including improved operational methods and verification techniques. He has been instrumental in fostering closer ties with counterpart organisations with a particular emphasis on regional collaboration, notably with Japan, the Republic of Korea and Indonesia. He has also worked directly in further developing Australia's network of bilateral nuclear safeguards agreements.

The principal objective of the Australian Safeguards Office (ASO) is to ensure that nuclear materials remain exclusively in peaceful use. ASO applies safeguards to nuclear materials and technology in Australia, accounts for uranium exported under Australia's 14 bilateral safeguards agreements covering 24 countries, and works closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Action against the spread of nuclear weapons is a key issue for the 1990s, and IAEA safeguards are central to this effort.

The ASO was transferred to the Foreign Affairs portfolio in June 1994 reflecting the increasing importance of international safeguards developments, including measures under consideration by the IAEA to strengthen IAEA safeguards following the Gulf War. The decision taken on 11 May by the international community meeting at the United Nations in New York to extend the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty indefinitely, further reinforces the importance of the role of safeguards in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Mr Carlson is also the Director of the Chemical Weapons Convention Office, established in March 1995 to monitor compliance under the Chemical Weapons Convention which is expected to come into force in 1996. It is envisaged that ASO will assume responsibility for other arms control verification functions, including the Biological Weapons Convention, and for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty currently being negotiated in the Conference on Disarmament.

Mr Carlson's reappointment will take effect from 29 May 1995.

CANBERRA