Dunne Peter: Motions — Nuclear-Free Legislation—20th Anniversary 
Dunne Peter: Motions — Nuclear-Free Legislation—20th Anniversary 
[Volume:639;Page:9768] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 As a member of Parliament in 1987 I was proud to vote for New Zealand’s anti-nuclear legislation and were similar legislation to come before the House today I would be proud to support it again. But the real significance of that legislation has only in recent years dawned upon the New Zealand consciousness and I want to return to that theme a little later on. 
I think that if we go back to the 1960s the 1970s and the 1980s we can see that the anti-nuclear call was as much about New Zealand asserting its identity in the world as it was about a commitment to a genuinely anti-nuclear future. When Norman Kirk sent the frigate  
Otago 
 to Mururoa in 1973 and he stood on the wharf at Devonport and said: “We may only be a small nation but we send a message to the world by this act.” most New Zealanders at that point said that that was absolutely right. That was a mark of our position in the world; that was our statement about where we stood. 
 Again when Martyn Finlay stood up at the World Court and presented the case with the reluctant Australians in tow that was New Zealand asserting its position. A decade later the Lange Government did the same. The cynics may say that the anti-nuclear mantle of that Government was a convenient cloak for the economic reforms that were going on in parallel time. There may be some truth in that but I think it is a cynical view. But there is no doubt that as with the Kirk era earlier David Lange and his Government were able to take on that anti-nuclear role and shape a New Zealand identity around it. 
I recall being a very young—and I stress that—MP in Washington when Mr Lange passed through on his way to the Oxford Union debate. What was extraordinary was watching the way in which the local television and news services reported his presence in the United States. “Prime Minister Lange is in town” the stories said—not “Prime Minister Lange from New Zealand that little country down at the end of the Pacific”. 
In that moment David Lange assumed a position on the world stage in the way we talk about President Bush or Prime Minister Blair. They do not have be qualified in terms of where they are from. It was as though people knew it was Prime Minister Lange from New Zealand. Watching the way the American media reacted to this man—who was a strange man really because after all he was challenging all that was orthodox to them—their deference respect and curiosity made it very comforting and made me feel very proud as a New Zealander that that was our leader standing up for our country. It was still that identity issue. 
Again a decade later when Jim Bolger sent not a frigate as we did not have too many of those in those days but a weather-research ship or something of equivalent nature up to Mururoa it was a part of the New Zealand story. I remember that Brian Neeson and Chris Carter drew lots to make sure they could be there together and Mr Hodgson was there at one point as well. 
While all of those things were going on and the anti-nuclear message was becoming implanted in the New Zealand conscience and with it that sense of “clean green” New Zealand and all of that spin-off I think if we are brutally honest we were a little less aware of the broader global picture. The fact was that nuclear weapons were still being produced nuclear weapons were still being targeted and rogue States still existed—as they do today—with the capacity to inflict immense destruction with their indiscriminate and irresponsible use of such weapons. It has really only been in the years since 2000 I believe that we have started to focus much more strongly on the international context and on the need to be active in asserting not so much New Zealand’s identity important though that is but the need for international agreements and limitations and the move to disarmament. 
That is why I believe the commemoration and this resolution is so timely. Yes it is great to wallow in a bit of nostalgia and a few of us did of that yesterday. We all looked considerably fresh and youthful—I know Mr Goff would agree with me and Mr Anderton as well—as we lined up for those photos. It was a sense of vigour rediscovered. 
That is important in terms of history for those of us who were there but today the important thing is really to talk about what we do about those States that are still part of the nuclear club. Just in the last week or so we have had a reminder of how tense things are with the byplay between Mr Putin and President Bush over whether we will have missiles relocated in parts of Europe and pointed in certain directions. It points out how fragile the international environment is. Although we can sit here secure and confident in our status there is still an almighty job to be done in the international community. 
I remember going to the NATO headquarters in 1985 and thereby hangs a tale. I am the only New Zealander and I think probably the only person ever to have got into NATO without any form of identification other than an old New Zealand driver’s licence—the ones that did not even have a photograph on them—but that was all I had with me. I remember the Secretary-General a gentleman from Austria whose name temporarily escapes me making a point somewhat sneeringly but I think truthfully. He said: “Oh it is all very well for you in New Zealand. Of course if we lived as far away from the scenes of international conflict as you do we would be nuclear-free as well.” 
That is the challenge. We have the luxury of isolation and we should hold on to that and the position of our nuclear-free status. But we need to be much more active I believe in pursuing disarmament issues internationally. I say that with no disrespect to the current Minister but I really think the change that has occurred as a result of our anti-nuclear stand becoming mainstream is that the old mantra we used to chant about this being New Zealand’s policy and not for export—we were not trying to convince the world in those days—should be changed. 
Maybe we should be trying to convince the world and maybe we should be using that position of moral leadership more effectively than we have done over a long period of time. We used to say that this was just a New Zealander policy. We were proud of it but we did not want to be promoting more broadly what others called the New Zealand disease. In that time we have seen Iran and Pakistan acquiring a nuclear capacity and a nuclear status and there are ongoing questions about Israel and others. 
There is a role for a country like New Zealand—that watching sentinel that Norman Kirk talked about all those years ago—to be in the forefront. We should be active in bringing other countries to account for their acquisition maintenance and upgrading of their nuclear arsenals. So I look on this resolution as not so much a celebration of our status and the fact that this legislation has endured for 20 years—and now has if not all-party support most-party support—and will endure for the next 20 years and beyond but much more a challenge of what we need to do to ensure that our children grow up in a peaceful and nuclear-free world. We can be satisfied about what we have achieved and that is good but the challenge from here is about what we need to do to ensure that the benefits we so confidently took upon ourselves are delivered for our children and our children’s children. 
I think that the timeliness of this resolution is a reminder of what yet needs to be done and I hope that in 20 years’ time Parliament—and maybe some of us might still be here; who knows because we will be youthful enough—will be able to celebrate the achievements of the next 20 years. [ 
Interruption 
] I am very positive! I know that Mr Anderton wants to be here in 20 years and I am sure there will be a few of us here to help him along the way. 
But seriously we can celebrate what we have done to ensure that our world is better as a result of the moves initiated in New Zealand by successive generations of politicians. So I am very pleased to support the motion and I look forward to what the next stage of this journey will be.