Jack Tame: Goody bags a start to big stuff

Foreign Affairs minister Murray McCully lobbied for a Security Council seat.

Opinion

In the UN General Assembly hall it was Christmas at every desk.

Little gifts and goody bags sat neatly arranged for each of the 193 member states.

Swiss representatives with bowties and pocket squares made small talk with Africans in bright traditional dress.

A Malaysian man walked from desk to desk, placing and perfecting his country's gifts with the care and precision of a waiter at the poshest restaurant. So many handshakes. So many double-kissed cheeks.

Minutiae at UN elections get an awful lot of thought. Case in point: the candidates' goody-bags.

Because most Security Council candidates give everyone chocolate before the vote, this year New Zealand's UN package came stocked with cheese and crackers.

Because winter's coming to New York and diplomats just love those double-kissed cheeks, we gave every member state a supply of New Zealand lip balm.

With this in mind, it seems unlikely New Zealand's goody bags played much of a role in securing our spot on the council.

Rather, the result was a victory built on reputation, co-operation between our main political parties and a decade of cheek-kissing graft. The reputation thing sounds a bit washy but it's something we should all be proud of. Although it's 20 years since New Zealand last served on the UN Security Council, many in the diplomatic realm still admire the way our government stood up to the big boys when we last served in New York.

When genocide began in Rwanda and the most powerful countries on Earth didn't want to know, New Zealand dug in its heels.

The UN Security Council is still as flawed as it was 20 years ago.

The Permanent Five members still retain the right to veto resolutions.

But the UN Security Council has perhaps never before been faced with so many international crises. And although we've taken care of the small stuff - the lip balm and cheese and cheek-kissing masses - the big stuff over the next two years will again decide our reputation.

Jack Tame is on Newstalk ZB Saturdays, 9am-midday