Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Friday argued for UN reform, warning that great power conflict was an "existential threat" for the entire world.
"Often small countries, vast distances from major powers, have borne the brunt of a race for dominance, with legacies of those contests casting shadows across the generations.
"But the modern arms race forever transformed the scale of great power competition, and pushed all of humanity to the brink of Armageddon," said Wong, addressing the UN General Assembly in New York.
Calling for reforms in the UN Security Council and said they must ensure greater permanent and non-permanent representation for Africa, Latin America, and Asia, including permanent seats for India and Japan.
"And we must demand more of the permanent members, including constraints on the use of the veto," she said.
On the Russia-Ukraine war, Wong demanded a joint response against Moscow, which she said was on the one hand promising grain to vulnerable nations but also destroying Ukrainian grain silos along the Black Sea coast.
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