New Zealand yet to be invited to Aukus, Winston Peters says

Thursday, 2 May 2024

Foreign Minister Winston Peters delivered a foreign policy speech on Wednesday evening.

Winston Peters says New Zealand can no longer be parsimonious about defence spending, as it pursues possible participation in the contentious Aukus military pact.

Peters on Wednesday evening gave a much-anticipated foreign policy speech outlining New Zealand’s position on the defence pact between Australia, United Kingdom, and United States, insisting the Government was right to continue exploring participation but any involvement was a long way off.

He also blasted critics of the Government’s interest in the pact, including the Labour Party, and detailed how Labour, when in government, instructed New Zealand officials to begin conversations with Aukus countries about the so-called second pillar of the defence technology-sharing agreement.

And Peters said other countries had made “repeatedly clear” that New Zealand was judged on whether it was “doing our share” in defence arrangements, and the country’s “long history of parsimony” with defence spending could not last.

A protester refused to sit down during Winston Peters speech on Wednesday evening, and was evenutally carried out of the room by parliamentary security.

Since 2023 both the Labour and National-coalition governments have been talking with the Aukus countries about possible involvement in the so-called “pillar two” of the pact, which remains undefined but will involve the sharing of cutting-edge defence technologies.

The primary purpose of the pact is to transfer nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, which is New Zealand’s only defence ally, due to concerns about China’s military build up.

David Capie, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University, said the speech would have “gone down well” in Canberra, Washington, and Tokyo, but it was also “carefully calibrated” in its language about China.

“In some ways he tried to I think take some of the heat out of this, but there was a classic Winston about the speech too, where he couldn't really resist the opportunity to land some domestic politics punches.”

A woman stood up and refused to sit down while holding up a piece of paper in protest.

Peters’ comments about New Zealand’s level of defence spending raised a question about how the Government might act in coming Budgets, he said.

“We're getting some clear signals from the Government about a much more worrying strategic environment and a need to shift how we respond to that. Now, the big question is, will the be the resources to actually to back that up?”

Dr Marco de Jong, a Pacific historian and lecturer at AUT Law School who has been critical of the Aukus pact, said Peters did not answer the central question that is China.

'If New Zealand is to join Aukus that is, you know, tacitly framing them [China] as an adversary, the question of trade, and the question of doing so without a security guarantee unlike the rest of the Aukus partners, is very significant.“

However, de Jong did not think New Zealand should seek to reinstate a defence alliance with the US.

“It seems like New Zealand has worked itself into this position where it's set to make the decision, but it's not clear we're even invited.”

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Peters declined to further elaborate on what he learnt in meetings this year in Melbourne and Washington DC about possible involvement in the pact, including whether the Aukus countries actually wanted New Zealand to join.

“None of those things can be answered because we haven't got anywhere near far enough down the track of the discussions and debate, all sorts of people are working on what it means,” he said.

Nor would he detail which countries had raised concerns about New Zealand’s defence capability and spending: “I do not think it's proper that I say. I'd share with my Cabinet colleagues … How long would they trust me if I was to be seen publishing that.”

Asked why he considered the security picture to be “malign”, Peters said “even today there is a ship there was a Filipino ship being challenged in the China Seas”.

“These are circumstances which go to the very heart of our future supply lines.

“No one's independent any more in the way that we thought we were.”

He said he had advocated for years for higher spending on foreign affairs and defence, but the “trend” of this Government’s defence spending would be revealed at the Budget, at the end of the month.