Duynhoven Harry: New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Disarmament and Arms Control (Nuclear Propulsion Reform) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Duynhoven Harry: New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Disarmament and Arms Control (Nuclear Propulsion Reform) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:627;Page:22112] 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN (Minister for Transport Safety) 
: 
 I have to say in seeking what I think will be the last call in this debate that I am pretty disappointed in the quality of the debate in the last speech. That is disappointing because in many ways I have quite a lot of respect for that speaker. His logic has failed him pretty badly. The first bit of logic that failed him was on the issue of who was in Government at the time when Ansett convinced the Australian Government to renege on the open skies agreement. If that was done on the basis of Labour’s antinuclear stand then why did the Australian Government kick New Zealand when it was under a National Government that was so pro-America that it actually changed its position twice on the nuclear issue at the 1990 election? This flip-flop nonsense is nothing new. Mr Shirley knows that well because like me he was a member of Parliament from 1987 to 1990 and was then defeated. We had to watch National lying its way around the country at the time. I told the candidate in New Plymouth at the time—in 1990—that I would be back in 1993 pointing out to the people how right I had been on those issues. The National Party which became the Government changed its position twice on the issue in days. 
It is no surprise to me whatsoever that on issues of nuclear policy National has changed its mind—has it been six times so far? Have we heard six different stories from the National leader? I am not quite sure where the National leader is today on the issue but I can tell him where New Zealanders are. They are overwhelmingly opposed to nuclear ships coming to our ports. And I say to Mr Shirley that it is not just New Zealanders who oppose nuclear ships; it is people right around the world. Other countries have the same antinuclear policy as ours in a very similar way. Denmark is an example of that. Denmark has had visits from US ships because the US ships have been prepared to tell it that there are no nuclear weapons on board. 
I say to the member as well that today I had a visit from a very charming doctor who is doing some research on the European Union. She happens to be Ukrainian and to remember extremely well what happened at Chernobyl. I am sure that that has been rehearsed many times during this debate. Kiev is a major city that still suffers today from the after-effects of Chernobyl and its medical bills will be going through the roof. We know that there have been nuclear accidents right around the world—nuclear leaks. We have seen leaks from nuclear plants including leaks from the very ship-type reactors that Mr Shirley wants to have American ships bring back here. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: What about the one out in Upper Hutt? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: I say to Mr Shirley that we are not talking about nor is he talking about a small device for medical use. We are talking about nuclear power reactors and nuclear ship reactors. If those reactors are so safe in ships what happened to the ship-type reactor that the Americans installed at the McMurdo base to replace the diesel generators because of the pollution from the diesel and the risk of spillage of diesel etc. at the height of the American enthusiasm at the time for things nuclear? The US base at McMurdo put a ship-type nuclear reactor there. Sometime later after it leaked I tell Mr Shirley not only was the reactor dismantled and taken back to the US for decontamination etc. but so was a whole lot of the material below the reactor—the subsoil etc.—taken back to the USA for decontamination. Now not many people live there and we do not know what the effect on the environment was—whether there was a long-time effect or not. But today the US is generating again by diesel at McMurdo. If nuclear power generation is such a safe technology why was the use of the nuclear reactor discontinued? 
I tell Mr Shirley that we are respected throughout the world for our stand on this issue. I fully agree that some countries are saying that they have to look again at the issue of nuclear power while other countries are dismantling their nuclear reactors. We can do one of two things here: we can pass this bill or we can throw it out. I am firmly for throwing it out.