In a speech to the Pacific Island Political Science Association in Wellington on Wednesday evening, Peters said this year, which will mark the 60th anniversary of free association, will require the Government to “reset the Government-to-Government relationship”.
“While the connection between the people of the Cook Islands and New Zealand remains resolutely strong, we currently face challenges in the Government-to-Government relationship,” Peters said.
The remarks were made in the midst of one of the biggest crises the relationship has ever known, with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and a number of other agreements with China, seen as a strategic competitor by the New Zealand Government, without consulting Wellington to a level the Government believes meets the Cook Islands’ obligations under the current constitutional arrangement between the two countries.
Peters did not mince his words, saying that both New Zealand and the Cook Islands people were “in the dark over all but one of the agreements signed by China and the Cooks last week”.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown (left) and Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters in Rarotonga in 2024. Photo / Eleisha Foon
He reiterated that New Zealand needed to see the agreements to “undertake its own careful analysis of how they impact our vital national interests”.
“Only then will we be able to fully gauge the deals’ impact on the relationship between New Zealand and the Cook Islands,” Peters said.
Peters harked back to the Norman Kirk and Helen Clark Governments' decisions to reassess the relationships with the Cook Islands in 1974 and 2001 as a model for how the current Government might do so. In 1974, the Kirk Government exchanged letters with the Cook Islands, setting out how the relationship might work.
In 2001, Clark’s Government and the Cook Islands Government published a joint declaration, which declared new freedoms for the Cook Islands, including allowing the Government some latitude to conduct foreign affairs.
The exchange of letters in 1973 was somewhat prescriptive, with New Zealand essentially laying out how it saw the relationship. The 2001 declaration had greater involvement from the Cooks themselves. The current New Zealand Government would prefer the 2025 reset to be closer to the declaration.
A reset, if it occurs, would likely be around August of this year, for the 60th anniversary of free association.
“Resetting and formally restating the parameters of the relationship is not a small task. But it is one which we are confident we can meet – powered by the history of goodwill and common bonds between New Zealand and the Cook Islands people,” Peters said.
Peters used the speech to clear his throat on a number of other evolving challenges in his portfolio.
Earlier this year, Peters canned a planned trip to Kiribati after the President Taneti Maamau, who is also the Foreign Minister, said he could no longer meet Peters as scheduled.
The snub blew up into a minor diplomatic incident.
Peters said it was important that he meet the President, citing the fact New Zealand had spent $100 million in aid in Kiribati and was looking to spend more – but before Peters is able to negotiate with his Minister of Finance, he needs to see what Kiribati needs.
Peters implied Kiribati was being disrespectful of the assistance.
“We made public our regret and concern, as well as our consequent decision to review our development programme to Kiribati. We are accountable to the worker in Kaitāia, the builder in Gore, and the farmer in the Waikato [sic] for the spending of taxpayer money, and we felt it important to express our concerns openly and transparently.
“At the same time, we have a long-standing relationship with the Kiribati people, which has overcome previous challenges. We will weather this one too,” Peters said.
Peters said he was still working towards “meaningful dialogue” with the President.
“We are taking positive steps towards that goal in coming weeks,” he said.
Peters hinted at a difficult future for the aid budget.
He said that New Zealand had spent generously in the Pacific, particularly when Peters held the Foreign Affairs portfolio.
“Few New Zealand Governments have gone to the wire to significantly lift the size of our international development programme as a proportion of New Zealand’s Gross National Income. One was Norman Kirk’s Government in the 1970s. Two others were during my two previous terms as Foreign Minister,” Peters said.
Citing a recently published review of the Government’s aid spending, Peters signalled some changes.
“We will achieve more impact by doing fewer, bigger projects better,” he said.
He said that while the Government will work “strategically with Pacific governments to strengthen their systems”, there will also be a change in where money is spent.
Peters said there would be more funding directed at South East Asia “to meet our ambition for closer relations overall with this important region”.
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.
