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Former Labour cabinet minister Fraser Colman died today, aged 83.
Prime Minister Helen Clark paid tribute to the man who had served in both the third and fourth Labour governments.
Mr Colman played a significant role in New Zealand becoming nuclear-free.
Miss Clark said when Prime Minister Norman Kirk decided that the Government should actively protest against the French nuclear testing programme at Mururoa, he sent the Royal New Zealand Navy frigates Otago and Canterbury into the testing zone in June, 1973.
"Fraser Colman was on board as a demonstration of the seriousness with which the New Zealand Government viewed French nuclear testing.
"The presence of the frigates with a cabinet minister on board attracted considerable international attention, and was part of the international pressure which forced the French nuclear testing programme underground."
- NZPA
