A growing number of nations are pushing for a new global treaty that would outlaw the very existence of nuclear weapons - with negotiations potentially to begin as early as next year.
Indonesia threw its weight behind a ban this month at a United Nations meeting in Geneva,urging"political will"in the face of technical obstacles.
But Australia is prominent among a small group of countries that do not own nuclear weapons but see the bomb as central to security,what is commonly referred to as a nuclear umbrella.
Tilman Ruff,a University of Melbourne professor and founding chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons,attended the Geneva talks and said the"weasel"label started as a joke among activists but had been quickly and informally adopted by diplomats from countries pushing for a ban.