Labour’s view on Aukus important

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Moving New Zealand closer to our allies Australia, the US and UK by joining the Aukus alliance would be controversial but it does make sense.

Defence Minister Judith Collins — who travelled to Australia with Foreign Minister Winston Peters yesterday to meet their counterparts — supports the move, which would bring New Zealand into a  second tier of Aukus that does not include the nuclear-powered submarines part that Australia has signed up to with the United States and United Kingdom.

Known as Aukus pillar II, it would be focused on rapidly developing and sharing military technology, including drones and hypersonics. The Russia-Ukraine war and the Gaza tragedy have shown that drones and ubiquitous communication play a vital role in warfare now; the Vietnam war was the helicopter war, the present conflicts could be described as drone wars.

Defence officials have been promoting the benefits of joining Aukus for months — long before the election. A briefing released to RNZ under the Official Information Act listed eight opportunities for researchers and industry.

Collins says it is important that New Zealand works out what it brings to the alliance. She believes we can offer work done in the area of technological advancement, especially in the space sector.

“You have got to bring your food to the party,” she said.

The move would be a huge change from our present defence policy, in which helping the country’s Pacific neighbours is paramount.

Collins says there are implications which must be worked through if New Zealand and other countries were to be allowed to join the alliance.

Asked about the risks of joining Aukus, particularly the possibility of offending China, she said the relationship with China was strong — particularly economically — and the Government would be doing its best to engage with it positively.

She is assuring the country it will be given the information it needs before any decision is made, and that any change is going to take a long time.

The previous Labour government had been moving closer to the United States and Australia, and the new coalition is taking it a step further.

There has traditionally been a bipartisan approach to security by the major parties and it will be interesting to see how the Opposition, particularly Labour, reacts to the suggestion to join the alliance.

However, a change of this nature in defence policy is always going to be controversial. There is a large group of people who oppose any move of this kind. Collins’ job is to convince the general public that this is in the country’s best interests.