Labour ‘broadly supportive’ of Ocean of Peace alliance

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he is “broadly supportive” of the Ocean of Peace alliance that the Government is looking to join.

Hipkins said he’d had some “informal conversations” with the Prime Minister about the deal.

Last week, the Government said it was exploring joining the Ocean of Peace, an alliance between Australia and Fiji, which other Pacific countries may join.

Since the implosion of ANZUS 40 years ago, New Zealand has maintained only one formal ally, Australia.

Should New Zealand join the alliance, its list of allies would grow to include Fiji and any other countries that may also join the alliance, such as Tonga and Papua New Guinea.

The deal includes a mutual defence obligation to consult on whether measures should be taken in relation to a “security-related development that threatens the sovereignty, peace or stability” of either party.

“I’m broadly supportive of it and I think there is an opportunity for New Zealand to be part of that conversation and part of that arrangement,” Hipkins said.

“There is no question that both Fiji and and Australia are very close partners of New Zealand and that we have a lot of common interest in this area,” he said.

Labour has not been supportive of the Government’s interest in the Aukus agreement, a nuclear-powered submarine procurement deal, which has other non-nuclear components which the current Government and the last Labour government explored joining.

Act leader David Seymour, who gave a press conference in his capacity as Acting Prime Minister, said it was “highly likely” that New Zealand would soon join the deal.

There has been some speculation that the dummy missile China fired into the Pacific was in retaliation against Australia and Fiji over the alliance.

When asked about that speculation, Seymour said he “did not like to speculate about other countries’ motivations”.

However, he drew a comparison between the relationship New Zealand had with China and the warm reception for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who visited Auckland over the weekend.

“What is clear is that you have to choose, you can either be a warm friend – the kind of friendship we’ve seen with the Prime Minister of India – or you can fire missiles at people, you can’t have both,” he said.