Audrey Young: Visit by US Coast Guard on agenda

Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta. Photo / Getty Images

John Key will raise the prospect of a United States Coast Guard ship visiting New Zealand when he meets top members of Barack Obama's Administration.

The Prime Minister arrives in Washington today and one of his appointments tomorrow is with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, who is responsible for the Coast Guard.

Mr Key may also raise the issue with new Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta, who has most recently headed the CIA.

"I would have thought it makes sense for the Coast Guard to visit New Zealand," Mr Key told the Herald.

"Whether they will, I don't know. That is something we will have to have discussions about."

It is not expected to be explored at Mr Key's meeting with President Obama on Saturday.

But the Prime Minister plans to at least raise the issue with others.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker, when he was mayor of Banks Peninsula, strongly advocated for US Coast Guard visits to the Port of Lyttelton.

The initiative is not expected to have any immediate results: the US has largely dictated the timing and extent of the thaw in NZ-US relations following the Anzus Treaty schism over nuclear ships, and for something so major, it would expect to be the initiator.

It is likely to raise some hackles within the Pentagon, where the last bastion of the reprisal mentality following the rift resides.

The US has chosen not to send ships to New Zealand since the 1987 nuclear-free law banning nuclear-powered or -armed vessels - although other nuclear powers have visited.

But as relations have improved dramatically in the past five years, New Zealand has viewed a Coast Guard visit as a good compromise that would still see an American presence in New Zealand ports.

It is thought that former Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen had made plans for a visit in the years before he retired last year but the Pentagon insisted it not happen.

While sensitivity in the Pentagon remains, the confidential review of the NZ-US defence relationship by the Administration in 2009 has resulted in a resumption of military exercises, including the Pacific Partnership one around Vanuatu in April - the first full naval drill together in 25 years.

Surveillance of illegal fishing in the Pacific is one of the key areas where the US and New Zealand have agreed to co-operate.

In February, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, Kurt Campbell - speaking about naval visits - said that "there is still sensitivity around certain issues".

"But with care and a recognition of the limits on both sides, I think there are any number of areas where the United States and New Zealand could work more comfortably and creatively together."