On June 8, 1987, The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act was passed into law – New Zealand became nuclear free and we lead the world.
We made this country nuclear and biological weapon-free and weren’t afraid of what other people thought, and since then, we have showed it is possible to remain political friends with other nations, regardless of a fundamental difference of opinion.
The Act was passed in the aftermath of the nuclear ships stand-off between New Zealand and the United States which led to the breakdown of the ANZUS alliance. In a largely symbolic action, the US Congress retaliated with the Broomfield Act, downgrading New Zealand’s status from ally to friend. The United States would no longer maintain its security guarantee to New Zealand, although the ANZUS treaty structure remained in place.
New Zealanders had been opposed to nuclear testing in the Pacific since the 1960s, but belonging to ANZUS had us sheltered by a ‘nuclear umbrella.’ There were two issues that showed up in the following two decades – opposition to French nuclear tests at Mururoa and to American warships’ visits to New Zealand.
The problem to Kiwis was two fold – whether these ships were nuclear-armed as well as nuclear-powered. The American policy was to ‘neither confirm nor deny’ this.
Prime Minister David Lange’s response was that if the cost of New Zealand’s nuclear-free status was the end of the security alliance, this was a ‘price we are prepared to pay’.
He also said, ‘there’s only one thing worse than being incinerated by your enemies, and that’s being incinerated by your friends.’
Bravo.