Mr Lange denies about-turn

Press, 8 July 1983, Page 4

Mr Lange denies about-turn

Parliamentary reporter The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Lange, denied yesterday that he has aboutturned on the nuclear vessels issue. In March, Mr Lange said that visits to New Zealand ports by nuclear-powered warships should be allowed under Labour Party policy, and he promoted the change of policy. This week he said that no American vessels would enter New Zealand ports under a Labour government unless he received an assurance from the United States that they were nuclear weapons-free.

Because the United States has a policy of not disclosing presence or absence of nuclear arms on board its nuclear-powered vessels, Mr Lange’s latest statement has been taken to mean that no nuclear-powered vessels will be allowed to visit. Mr Lange denies the two statements are in conflict. Only journalists who had carefully blinded their eyes to the facts could draw that conclusion, he said. What are the facts? From press statements on file on Mr Lange’s press office, and from reported verbatim comments they are these: • March 24, 1983. In a speach to the American Chamber of Commerce in Auckland, Mr Lange said: “I believe that New Zealand and the United States can continue to be allied militarily in the A.N.Z.U.S. pact, and there is no requirement fundamental to the continuance of the treaty that we host nuclear-armed warships.

• March 25: The Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, said that the public was entitled to know, in clear terms, whether a Labour Govern-

ment under Mr Lange would continue to let nuclear-propelled vessels, visit. Mr Lange replied that the party’s policy was that nuclear-powered ,and nuclear-armed warships would not visit. • March 26: Mr Lange said that he wanted the Labour Party to consider altering its policy to allow nuclear propelled, but not nuclear-armed, vessels to visit New Zealand. The United States would advise which ships were carrying nuclear arms, he said. It had agreed with the Australian Government in 1981 that 852 bombers visiting Darwin would not carry nuclear arms unless the Australian Prime Minister consented.

• April 28 and May 3: Visiting United States assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Dr Paul Wolfowitz, said that bans on visits ol

nuclear-powered or nucleararmed ships to New Zealand were “dangerous,” The Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Forces, Admiral Long, said that it was important to A.N.Z.U.S. that New Zealand continued to allow visits by nuclear-propelled vessels. • April 30: The Wellington Labour Party regional conference roundly rejected Mr Lange’s call for a policy change allowing visits by nuclear-powered vessels. @ June 3: Nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered vessels might have to be allowed transit through a South Pacific nuclear-free zone, said Mr Lange. This might be the price Pacific nations would have to pay to get in return a zone in which there was a prohibition on “acquisition, storage, basing or testing of nuclear weapons,” he said. Mr Lange drew a distinction between such a zone and New Zealand territorial waters. Present

Labour policy was to deny access of both nuclearpowered and nuclear-armed warships in territorial waters, he said.

® July 6: Mr Lange said in a special statement that the next Labour Government would stop visits by nuclear-armed warships. Nuclear powers would be “made aware” that their vessels could visit New Zealand only if they were not nuclear-armed. “Unless I receive, as Prime Minister, an assurance that these ships and aircraft are not carrying nuclear weapons, entry to New Zealand waters will be denied.”

Mr Lange also said that no nuclear-powered vessel would be let in unless strict safeguards against environmental hazards were devised and enforced.

® July 7: Mr Lange said that visits to New Zealand ports by nuclear-powered vessels were a “particularly reasonable” thing, given the

assurance and hazard safeguards. He would still bring the policy change issue before the party’s policy council. No remit for the annual conference sought a change of policy, however. A spokesman in Mr Lange’s office said yesterday that the only new material Mr Lange had introduced since his March initiative was to seek assurances that no nuclear weapons would enter, where before he was hoping that trust between allies would be sufficient. On a trust basis New Zealand could have expected no nuclear weapons would enter. Mr Lange had also added the environmental safety condition. Mr Lange said yesterday that he was still optimistic that an assurance could be gained, a policy change made, and nuclear-powered vessels still visit New Zealand, as he had first proposed.