U.S. seeks ban on N.Z. servicemen

Press, 4 December 1985, Page 1

U.S. seeks ban on N.Z. servicemen

By

CHRIS PETERS

NZPA Sydney. The United States wants to ban New Zealand ser-. vicemen from using American equipment in service with Australian defence forces, according to a report and the Australians are set to agree. There is said to be a growing frustration among senior Australian Ministers with Wellington’s nuclearship ban, that frustration will‘biiild’tp the extent that > Canberra Will agree, to the '‘United States demand will remain to be seen. The influential Melbourne daily, the “Age,” said yesterday that the present United States ban on Australia passing on American Intelligence information to New Zealand was set to be extended to the use of United States military equipment in Australian service. Quoting senior Government sources, the paper’s Canberra correspondent said the equipment ban was

the next step in the United States campaign against New Zealand’s anti-nuclear stand. If the report is correct, it will be particularly damaging to New Zealand which regularly has large numbers of personnel on exchange duties with Australian services. With most of the Australian Navy comprising United States-built ships and, more importantly, packed with the most up-to-date electronic and computer navigational and targeting equipment,; and the same applying to the Air Force and a lesser extent to the Army, the ban could have serious consequences for New Zealand’s ability to keep abreast of technological advances among Western Armed Forces. In the unlikely event that Australia does not comply with the proposed equipment ban, the “Age” says the United States could place some restrictions on future supplies of equipment under preferential conditions and refuse to update

maintenance manuals vital to the equipment’s use. „ * , The Australians are placing a lot of importance on the visit to Canberra of the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, which began yesterday, with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Hayden, delaying a trip interstate yesterday to meet him and the Defence Minister, Mr Beasley, making a special -trip from Perth tomorrow just for ah evening session. But the “Age” also claims the fact that the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, will not be seeing Mr Palmer is a sign of the displeasure in Canberra with the ructions in A.N.Z.U.S. caused by New Zealand’s stand. Mr Hawke’s office, however, denies this, saying there had never been a formal request from New Zealand for Mr Palmer to meet him and “there was certainly no snub”. The New Zealand Minister of Defence, Mr O’Flynn, could not be reached for comment last evening.