Prime Minister John Key says New Zealand's likely military contribution to the fight against Islamic State "is the price of the club" that New Zealand belongs to with the likes of the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada in the intelligence alliance known as Five Eyes.
In his strongest hint yet that the Cabinet will approve a deployment of troops to train Iraqis alongside Australians, Mr Key, in an interview with the BBC, drew heavily on New Zealand pulling its weight as part of "a club".
"Ultimately are we going to say we are going to be part of a club like [we] are with Five Eyes intelligence?
"Are we ultimately going to be able to rely on members of those clubs to support us in our moment of need?" he said in an interview with Taranaki-born BBC journalist Lucy Hockings in London.
"And we do know that when it comes to the United States and Canada and Australia and Great Britain and others that we can rely on them." If New Zealand did not have the resources to fly someone out of a country or have the resources to help a citizen in another part of the world, others would.
