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Supporters of Stop AUKUS WA and Nuclear Free WA gathered outside Fremantle Town Hall on August 14 to present a 400-strong petition to the Mayor and Council.

The four-part petition requests the City of Fremantle “Call on the Commonwealth Government to ban the berthing of nuclear-powered or -armed submarines at Stirling Naval Base given its proximity to a large urban population”.

It also requests it “Explain how else it will respond to the fact that nuclear powered and nuclear armed submarines in Cockburn Sound are inconsistent with the City’s Nuclear Free Policy and pledge to support the Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons”.

Western Australia protocols designate affected local governments as being responsible for recovery, including decontamination, rebuilding and medical rehabilitation.

Consequently, the petition also asks the City of Fremantle to ensure that “residents and visitors are immediately informed of the presence of nuclear powered and/or armed submarines, safety procedures in place and appropriate public response to accidents including the provision of iodine tablets”. Further, it asks the City to “seek clarification of the extent of its responsibilities in the event of a nuclear safety breach”.

Stop AUKUS WA spokesperson Sam Wainwright told the gathering that the sums of money being spent on arms has grown enormously.

“Globally, more than US$2 trillion is spent on weapons per year — an increase since the year before. Just that increase was bigger than the total commitments countries gave to COP28 to fight climate change.”

Wainwright said recent reports about the side meetings around AUKUS confirm that the government “wants to leave the door open for more serious and substantial nuclear waste, and for submarines that are nuclear weapons-capable”.

“Everything we are worried about is being confirmed.”

In the last few weeks, there has been media scrutiny about a resident-funded “fact finding mission” to US ports involving mayors and senior staff from Fremantle, and other local governments.

The tour is being organised by the Australian Submarine Agency, founded by the Department of Defence last year and with responsibility for rolling out the nuclear submarine program.

“Inevitably this trip will be read as endorsement or acceptance of AUKUS and nuclear submarines,” Wainwright said. “It’s completely naive not to realise that main reason local government has been invited to participate is to generate social licence for the nuclear sub program.”

In addition to Fremantle being the first council area to declare its support for a “Nuclear Free Zone” in 1980 and, later, supporting a ban on nuclear weapons, it is also part of the international Mayors for Peace initiative, established in 1982 at the initiative of then Mayor of Hiroshima.

“Given the City of Fremantle’s adopted policy, the bare minimum we would expect from our council is not to cooperate with any promotion of AUKUS,” Wainwright concluded.