The politics of nuclear arms

Press, 19 July 1983, Page 20

The politics of nuclear arms

The issue of nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered American warships visiting New Zealand has long had the potential to split the Labour Party. The question also has the potential for upset in the National Party, since the Government member of Parliament for Waipa, Miss M. Waring, has written a letter to the American Ambassador to New Zealand saying that the United States should be prepared to tell New Zealand whether any visiting ships carry,nuclear weapons. The Prime Minister Mr Muldoon, will not so readily score political points at home off the Labour Party after Miss Waring’s comment.

Miss Waring says that she is not alone in the Government caucus. Certainly in the wider party the Young Nationals have adopted a policy supporting a nuclear-weapon free zone in the South Pacific. Such views will express the personal convictions and fears of these National Party members and also represent a considered political judgment that there is some concern in the public. Miss Waring has made her views on the subject known previously, most notably when the private members’ bill on establishing a nuclear-weapon free zone in the South Pacific was brought before Parliament last year by the Labour member for Auckland Central, Mr R. W. Prebble. Miss Waring apparently was persuaded by some of her caucus colleagues at that time to vote against the bill only after a Parliamentary committee was established to consider disarmament.

The release of Miss Waring’s letter almost coincided with the annual Ministerial Council meeting of the A.N.Z.U.S. alliance. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Cooper, has been making some statements about the position of the Labour Party and has said that the Labour Party was likely to become more an ally of the Soviet Union than an ally of the United States. At home, such a statement would be recognised for what it is — a piece of rather blatant, unsubtle politicking.

The fact that Mr Cooper said it while abroad raises other issues. It may not be understood as an exercise in domestic politics.

Foreign policy differences between parties are best not raked over in public in foreign countries. Probably little harm has been done in this instance; although Mr Cooper was interviewed in Washington, he is likely to have been reported only in New Zealand. In any event, Mr Cooper may think it more prudent to stay silent on the issue after the comment by Miss Waring. The politics apart, the question will remain about New Zealand being host to visits of American warships which may be carrying nuclear weapons. The issue may not have been removed from party politics, but it may be easier for the country to address the question if it were. New Zealanders opposed to the visits of nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed warships do so for a number of reasons, which may vary from person to person or group to group. Two of the most common reasons are that the visits of the ships represent a nuclear threat to New Zealand if war should break out because the ships might become targets, and that some people want no part of any arrangement by which New Zealand could be defended by nuclear weapons. Miss Waring appears to hold the latter view at least. The United States has other interests to defend besides New Zealand and it cannot reasonably be expected to renounce its nuclear arsenal to accommodate the views of some New Zealanders. Some in anti-nuclear movements have carried the point through to wanting a complete rejection of American defence commitments to New Zealand. It is unlikely that a majority of New Zealanders would go so far. Probably many would like to know that there was an American commitment to defend New Zealand and prefer not to think about nuclear weapons. They may prefer not to know whether the ships were carrying nuclear weapons. That is where the argument began; the importance of Miss Waring’s views within the National Party and the views of many within the Labour Party is that the argument can no longer begin and end on the same point.