IAEA Board of Governors Meeting - Agenda Item 3: Nuclear security
Australian Statement
H.E Ambassador Ian Biggs, Governor and Resident Representative of Australia to the IAEA
8 September 2025
Thank you, Chair.
Australia welcomes the Director General’s Nuclear Security Report for 2025. We commend the Secretariat for its ongoing efforts to coordinate international nuclear security activities and assist Member States in strengthening the global nuclear security framework.
Chair,
Australia thanks the Secretariat for its extensive consultation process on the Nuclear Security Plan 2026-2029. Australia looks forward to ongoing consultations to help inform the Agency’s important nuclear security work for the forward period.
Chair,
We note that following the success of ICONS2024 there has been positive dialogue in furthering efforts to strengthen nuclear security. We welcome the IAEA’s Webinar series on Nuclear Security – Looking Beyond ICONS2024, where I took part in a webinar focussed on ‘Looking Back and Looking Forward, Shaping Nuclear Security through ICONS’. Ongoing events such as these help to shape future ICONS events, and other nuclear security related conferences including the 2026 International Conference on Computer Security in the Nuclear World, and the 2026 International Conference on the Safe and Secure Transport of Nuclear and Radioactive Material.
Chair,
Australia commends the IAEA’s ongoing work to promote adherence to, and universalisation of, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its Amendment. We look forward to supporting the IAEA’s efforts in this regard, particularly within our region.
Chair,
Australia is an active and proud participant in the IAEA’s Nuclear Security Guidance Committee, and regularly contribute to enhancing Nuclear Security Series publications. We encourage all Member States to engage in the Nuclear Security Series process and facilitate timely reviews and approvals of publications.
Chair,
Australia recently participated in the International School on Nuclear Security, and we congratulate the IAEA on convening a course with a cohort of geographically and gender diverse participants. We were particularly pleased to see increased participation by Member States in Asia and the Pacific, namely Fiji, Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia.
Chair,
Australia notes that the Agency has commenced preparations for the Review Conference to the CPPNM and its Amendment. We encourage all Parties to participate fully in the Conference process, and we urge Member States that have not yet done so to ratify, accept or approve the CPPNM and its Amendment.
Finally,
We welcome the Agency’s critical work, including in difficult circumstances, such as its efforts on nuclear security in the context of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
With that, Australia takes note of this Nuclear Security Report for 2025.
Thank you, Chair.