Locke Keith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Locke Keith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:606;Page:3905] 
4.  
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does she intend to convey a strong anti-war message to Australian Prime Minister John Howard during his planned visit; if so why did she say “I don’t think we are going to see either endeavouring to persuade the other of the merits of the other’s approach”? 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade) 
 on behalf of the  
Prime Minister 
: Discussions with John Howard will cover a range of bilateral and multilateral issues of importance to both our countries including the issue of Iraq. Mr Howard will already be well informed about New Zealand’s position on achieving Iraqi disarmament. 
Keith Locke 
: Will the Prime Minister be encouraging Government members to attend peace rallies during John Howard’s visit as she did prior to the 15 February protests when on 12 February she told Parliament that: “Members of Government will be present at those rallies.”? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: It is entirely up to members of Parliament on the Government side of the House as to whether they attend appropriate peace rallies. I think that many members on this side of the House of course will be taking the opportunity to engage with John Howard to discuss those areas we have in common and those areas where we have a different point of view. 
Tim Barnett 
: Is it normal in conducing relations with friendly countries such as Australia to shun or abuse leaders over points of disagreement? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: No it most certainly is not. As two sovereign countries we will often have different views on specific issues notwithstanding our overall close relationship. But to say that John Howard is as welcome here as Saddam Hussein would be as did the co-leader of the Greens is frankly offensive and immature. To withdraw an invitation to Mr Howard to visit New Zealand would impede not improve discussion of issues and would undermine our ongoing and very important relationship. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I did not make the statement that has just been attributed to me. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I seek leave of the House to table an article from the  
Dominion Post 
 which states: “Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said yesterday he was no more welcome in New Zealand than Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.” That is dated today 4 March. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If the member said she did not make the statement her word is to be accepted as every other member’s is. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That may well be so but I think really that the member who is denying her knowledge of the statement owes it to this House to table her denial to the  
Dominion Post— 
her refutation of what is being said in her name—or otherwise I do not accept her word. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: She has given her word to the House and there can be no more important thing than that because in fact if her word is not found to be accurate that does lead to very serious consequences. She has given her word to this House. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. While I am not questioning your ruling or the statement by the Green co-leader I am asking whether MPs can still ask questions about that matter—because the Green co-leader has not told us what she did say. For all that I know there may have been only a minor difference between the quote and what she did say so I take it that we are still able to ask questions relating to the story in the  
Dominion Post 
 even though the Green Party co-leader understandably wants to distance herself from that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Yes of course members can ask questions but they cannot doubt the member’s veracity. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Why will the Government not support a second resolution before the United Nations proposed by Britain the United States and Spain and supported by Australia given that it has taken 4 months for Iraq—and only when faced with the threat of imminent force—to ante up about the anthrax that it possesses which is the world’s worst terror weapon? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: After 8 years of inspections and over 3 years without inspections—the United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission team has been in Iraq now for only just over 3 months—it is the view of this Government that alternatives to war should always be pursued before the ultimate resort to that sanction is ever applied because of the huge consequences of undertaking such a war. 
Dail Jones 
: What does the Prime Minister have to say about the Greens’ weird message in threatening to disrupt Prime Minister Helen Clark’s State luncheon for Australia’s Prime Minister—Australia being one of the world’s oldest democracies and one of our longest and oldest friends—when compared with the Greens’ conciliatory and supportive approach to Saddam Hussein of Iraq who must be one of the modern world’s greatest serving tyrants? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Every New Zealander of course has the right to protest but most New Zealanders would not support gross discourtesy if that is what is implied in the Greens’ threat. 
Keith Locke 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The supplementary question said the Greens had threatened to disrupt Prime Minister Howard’s visit. There has been no such statement from any Green MP. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No no. The member should have raised that when the original comment was made. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: How stable is this Labour Government and its foreign policy when the Government will be dependent for certain votes on the Green Party—a party that can see no moral difference between Saddam Hussein a dictator and John Howard an elected leader in Australia our longest and most stable ally? How stable is this Government? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Somewhat more stable than some parties in Opposition that have been careless enough to lose members. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The answer might be funny but I just draw this to your attention. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I will interrupt the member. I do now want the Minister to address the question. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The question was a rhetorical question about stability. This is a very stable Government supported in confidence motions and supply generally by at least two other parties outside the coalition and particularly stable given its rating of more than 50 percent in the public opinion polls. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Are reports correct that security considerations are forcing some limitations on Mr Howard’s programme while he is in New Zealand and is one of those limitations the report quoted by  
One News 
 that the Green Party has promised to try to disrupt the State visit of Australian Prime Minister John Howard? 
Keith Locke 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have just told the House that there has been no such threat made by any Green Party member. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member cannot do that by way of a point of order because the question itself is in order. Any comment that the member is alleged to have made and that he says he did not make is different. But this question is about the Green Party in general. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Appropriate security arrangements will be put in place—in particular because of the threats made by international terrorist groups against Australia and its leadership. 
Keith Locke 
: Do John Howard’s comments last week about stationing American Star Wars missiles in Australia represent a threat to our region and make it more difficult for nuclear-free New Zealand to have a close defence relationship with Australia? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Australia’s decision with regard to missile defence systems is a decision for Australia. I have made it clear that New Zealand has a different point of view on the effectiveness or desirability of missile defence. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Will the Prime Minister be giving any advice to the Green Party about whether it should or should not attend the State luncheon in honour of Mr Howard or will she simply be suggesting to the Greens that they walk out keep on going and return to that distant part of the solar system from whence they came? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I think the Prime Minister’s advice to Green Party members would be that if they do not wish to attend the luncheon as a sign of protest then that is the way they should go about it.