Inquiry into defence

Press, 28 January 1986, Page 17

Inquiry into defence

As an offshoot of the International Year of Peace, a committee for the defence inquiry has been set up to encourage informed public participation in the review.

“We are concerned that the Government is going to have very little information to counter the military wish to return to the A.N.Z.U.S. fold,” says Warren Thomson. “There are dangers in the inquiry unless they get quality information from various points of view. They may well be pushed back into a conservative stance and the thing may backfire.”

The peace workers are also concerned about the omission of certain topics from the Government’s discussions which they are eager should not be ignored. “Things such as our intelli-

gence links with the United States, surveillance in the Pacific, the role of the Black Birch Ridge astronomical station — which was built in part with American money — and the existence of secret agreements with the United States all need to be discussed if you are going to have a defence review,” Mr Thomson maintains. “We do not know what agreements we have with the United States in times of crisis, but there are agreements. with other countries to forward base weapons and nuclear weapons in a developing crisis. Yet those subjects are not being discussed by the inquiry at present.”

The committee for the defence inquiry is organising a defence review seminar on Friday, January 31, at the Stringle-

man Room of the Public Library. The guest speaker will be Helen Clark, Labour Party spokesperson on disarmament issues, and chairperson of the Parliamentary select committee on foreign affairs and defence. Kevin Clements, a member of the defence review panel, will background the inquiry.

The next day, a series of workshops is aimed at preparing submissions being held at the W.E.A. The subjects are expected to include civilian-based defence; the economics of defence and alternative policies; a world peacemaking role for New Zealand; New Zealand’s present treaties and agreements; defence structure and hardware and its implications; and New Zealand’s responsibilities in the Pacific.