N-issues see N.Z., Aust. split

Press, 8 July 1983, Page 1

N-issues see N.Z., Aust. split

PA Wellington The Australian and New Zealand Labour parties had parted company on nuclear issues, said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Lange, yesterday. Mr Lange firmly set himself apart from both New Zealand’s A.N.Z.U.S. partners, the United States and Australia, as he explained his new thinking on the issue of visits from nuclear warships.

Events of the last 2% months across the Tasman had seen a “quite dramatic” shift, he told reporters. Citing the wish of the Australian Government to have the A.N.Z.U.S. treaty firmed up and extended to the Indian Ocean, Mr Lange said, “There is no possibility at this stage of the Opposition’s forming understandings which would have us in parity with the Australians.” Mr Lange, responding to a question, agreed that the two Labour parties did not see eye to eye now. The New Zealand Labour Party would “not have a bar” of the “extraordinary” mooted extension of A.N.Z.U.S. to the Indian Ocean, he said, and it “would not strive to see” a firming of the treaty up to a N.A.T.O. equivalent, which the Australians wanted. Earlier, the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, asserted that Mr Lange had been forced by the Labour caucus to recant his view expressed in March that nuclearpropelled vessels should be able to enter New Zealand ports. Mr Muldoon said that the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, shared the attitude expressed by Mr Lange three months ago. Mr Hawke also “did not mind if they have nuclear weapons on them as long as they don’t stay long.” Mr Lange issued a statement of “clarification” on Wednesday evening saying that vessels and aircraft could come to New Zealand only if the Americans gave him, as Prime Minister, an assurance that nuclear arms were not aboard. He also said that until strict safety conditions could be devised and en-

forced, preventing any environmental hazard, no nuclear-propelled ship would be permitted to visit New Zealand under a Labour government. He did not dispute yesterday that they were new conditions to his March statement, but he said journalists would have to work hard to find any suggestion of a reverse in his policy. Mr Lange also indicated that he would continue to work to change the party policy, which disallows visits by both nuclearpowered and nuclear-armed craft. Asked if he thought there would be a visit by a nuclear-propelled vessel under a Labour government, he said, “I think it is possible there could be, if there is disclosure of armament.” He remained confident that the American Administration would change its policy of not confirming or denying that its craft carry nuclear weapons. Asked what made him think he could change the United States Government’s mind, he said, “If they don’t change their mind they don’t come.” Mr Lange maintained that his conditions of disclosure and safety did not prohibit visits. Mr Lange said that the American Administration had ensured that the Labour Party’s annual conference in September would damn the A.N.Z.U.S. alliance. He reiterated his assertion that the Government and the American Administration had made a “deal” to embarrass his party at its annual conference. Mr Muldoon said Mr Lange had “come out a month or two ago with a policy that was totally unacceptable to the rest of the Labour Party, particularly the Left wing. “He has been forced by his caucus to recant and he has now said that unless we are told (about armament) they won’t come, and he knows they are not going to be told because the Americans never do tell anybody. “So what he is doing is getting a back door way of saying, ‘No, I’ve recanted.

and under a Labour government they wouldn’t come here’.” Mr Lange agreed there were some differences in the Labour Party about the issue, saying there were differences between groups and people.

About-turn denied, page 4.

Mr Muldoon asccused Mr Lange of romancing with his comment that the Government was in cahoots with the Americans over the timing of the visit by the United States warship Texas.

Mr Lange said the nuclear-powered ship would be in New Zealand at the same time as Labour’s annual conference and he regarded it as a calculated, unfriendly act on behalf of the United States Government in cahoots with the National Party.

Mr Muldoon told a press conference, “Surely you don’t believe the Americans would connive in disrupting the Labour Party conference?”

The New Zealand Government had never had any "input” on the timing of nuclear ship visits, he said.

“The American Ambassador comes along and says, ‘There is an American warship coming in this direction. Any objection to the visit?’ We always say, ‘No, happy to have it.’ “This idea that there is a deep, dark plot to disrupt the Labour Party conference is ludicrous,” Mr Muldoon said.

The presence of the Texas, which will visit Auckland and Wellington later this month, makes those cities targets in the event of a nuclear war, according to a Christchurch peace group. The visits of nuclear warships were the Government’s way of conditioning the public to accept that A.N.Z.U.S. membership meant participation in nuclear warfare, said the secretary of the New Zealand Nuclear-Free Zone Committee, Mr Larry Ross, yesterday.

“The Government is out of step with the people if it

thinks the people want to follow policies which allow nuclear weapons and risks to visit New Zealand,” he said.

The nuclear-free zone campaign’s success would come by continuing effective political action through educational efforts and peaceful, legal demonstration.

Potentially violent confrontations on this issue would divert attention from the real issues and reduce the chance of success, said Mr Ross. The committee would not take direct action against the ship’s visit.