blog #25

The American people have a sense of fair play. They have democratic values. 

Purple scarves are surprisingly popular!

They know that New Zealanders have fought alongside Americans for common values. We will continue to share those values. In the context of New Zealand’s relationship of 150 years’ standing with the United States, the issue of ship visits is a minor fly in the ointment. The American people know that, and will respond in a reasonable manner.
The government’s intentions are clear: vessels that are nuclear capable will not be welcomed. However, if the government is convinced that a vessel is neither nuclear-powered nor nuclear-armed it will be welcomed. The Prime Minister has made it clear, and has left it open to the United States to request visits to New Zealand by vessels such as FFG7s of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, or other vessels in the United States Navy, but nuclear vessels will not be welcomed.
I refresh Opposition members’ memories about the nature of a treaty. The 1983 defence review states that an alliance is the free association of countries with common but not necessarily identical interests. That describes the association between New Zealand and the United States. The defence review points out that ANZUS brings together countries of very different scale but comparable outlook. It was recognised in the 1983 ANZUS Council communiqué that there may be varying views and perspectives between sovereign and independent nations. Such differences are a healthy reflection of diversity, and enhance rather than detract from the ANZUS alliance. The alliance has never meant that there will be total identity of interests, but allows for diversity. The defence review pays tribute to that interpretation and the government supports it.
The ANZUS alliance is not, and has not been, a nuclear alliance. We need only go back to the defence reports of the National government for reiteration of that view. The 1983 annual defence report, to which the former Minister of Defence, the former member for Taranaki, put his name, states, ‘New Zealand is not a nuclear power and does not become one by association with nations that are. ANZUS is not a nuclear alliance.’ As that report implies, the government is justified in considering ANZUS a conventional alliance. It is an alliance that does not rest for any alleged strength on nuclear weaponry.
We have heard over and over again today that members in the House are for nuclear war. I hope they are not. However, when one hears that Opposition members would have welcomed the USS Buchanan knowing it is nuclear-armed, in all probability, one can only ask what contribution that would have made to disarmament. It would have made none.