Strong Aussie support for nuke weapons ban

Three-quarters of Australians support banning nuclear weapons, according to a new opinion poll.

Greenpeace Australia commissioned a ReachTel survey of 1669 people nationally which found 73 per cent supported eliminating nuclear weapons.

The release of the survey comes on the eve of the United Nations this week opening the book for countries to sign a treaty banning nuclear weapons.

In July, 122 countries voted in favour of the treaty but Australia was not among them.

Australia boycotted the negotiations along with the nine global nuclear powers including US, Russia, United Kingdom and France.

The Turnbull government argues Australia receives protection from the umbrella of deterrence from US nuclear capability.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials in June were also sceptical about the treaty being able to actually reduce nuclear weapons.