AUKUS alliance: New Zealand bans AUKUS nuclear submarines from its waters

Australia’s new fleet of nuclear submarines will be banned from New Zealand waters, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Picture: AFP

Australia’s new fleet of nuclear submarines will be banned from New Zealand waters, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday stuck with the non-nuclear policy that saw her country suspended from the ANZUS defence treaty.

Ms Ardern on Thursday broadly welcomed the AUKUS defence pact between Australia, Britain and the US, and she was the first foreign leader Scott Morrison informed about the historic strategic Indo-Pacific push.

But the New Zealand leader said while she would continue to promote strong intelligence ties with the strategic countries, she would not change the ban on nuclear vessels in her country.

“New Zealand’s position in relation to the prohibition of nuclear-powered vessels in our waters remains unchanged,” she said in Wellington.

“We welcome the increased engagement of the UK and US in the region and reiterate our collective objective needs to be the delivery of peace and stability and the preservation of the international rules-based system.”

In Canberra, the Prime Minister said the AUKUS defence pact would ultimately ensure security and stability for New Zealand and for the whole Pacific region.

“(Ms Ardern) was my first call because of the strength of our relationship and the relationship between our countries,” he said.

“All in the region will benefit from the peace and the stability and security this partnership will add to our region.

“It’s there to add, it’s there to contribute, it’s there to support everyone in the region.”

In 1984, then-New Zealand Labour prime minister David Lange declared his nation a nuclear-free zone and banned any nuclear vessels from entering New Zealand waters and ports.

The Lange government’s decision led to the unravelling of the ANZUS treaty – signed in 1954 in the early days of the Cold War – and then-US president Ronald Reagan suspended US security obligations to New Zealand two years later in 1986.

US-New Zealand relations remained relatively frosty for years until Labor prime minister Helen Clark provided troops to US president George W. Bush’s 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

On Thursday, Ms Ardern said the nuclear submarine deal would not affect her involvement in the Five Eyes intelligence network.

“(The AUKUS pact) in no way changes our security and intelligence ties with these three countries, as well as Canada,” she said.

The Ardern government has faced questions on its commitment to Five Eyes after it refused to sign several statements with intelligence partners critical of China.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta in April said she was “uncomfortable” with Five Eyes expanding of its intelligence remit to cover other security and diplomacy issues.