Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)

It will be extremely brief. It is a follow-up to something Ms Kinney mentioned in her opening statement. It is worth confirming it. Ms Kinney mentioned the established research which shows that an increase in armaments availability does not contribute to peace. This might be obvious but we have been told this is necessary and preventative, that it is deterrence and has all these functions. Could Ms Kinney elaborate on that research? This is the argument that Frank Aiken made when promoting the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation treaty historically. He made the argument that arms create conflict. Could Ms Kinney confirm that this is not just an opinion but that the research has shown that an increase in military capacity and weaponry leads to an increase in military conflict? That is key because we have focused a lot on the piece around money being diverted but there is the second part of Ms Kinney's piece where she spoke about conflict creating huge emissions. It is not just that the money is being redirected out of this and into arms manufacturing. It is not just that arms manufacturing creates weapons but that it increases conflict and conflict contributes to climate change, as I understand from Ms Kinney's piece, and then climate breakdown, as we know, contributes in a negative loop towards conflict. Could Ms Kinney come back to that piece? It would be worth knowing where that research is coming from and how common it is.