New Zealand's interest in a specific part of the AUKUS agreement between Australia, the UK and US may be viewed in places as a backwards step for the country's traditionally independent foreign policy, a foreign affairs expert says.
Following bilateral talks in Melbourne yesterday – between Defence Minister Judith Collins, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Australia Defence Minister Richard Marles – Australia will this year send officials to New Zealand to brief the Government on AUKUS pillar two developments.
The security pact agreement centres on nuclear-powered submarines and New Zealand has a nuclear-free policy, but pillar two is focused on non-nuclear advanced technology like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
University of Otago international relations expert Robert Patman joined Breakfast to discuss the talks this morning.
"It's unprecedented," Patman said of the meeting. "I think it reflects what the new National-led coalition says, it wants to add urgency and closer alignment with traditional allies."
Later, Patman said this interest may raise some eyebrows abroad.
He said a Kiwi relationship with AUKUS would be a "huge disappointment" to China.
"Not that that should worry us per se," Patman added. "We're a liberal democracy and they're an authoritarian state.
"But I think it would be seen – not just in China but in the Pacific Island states as well as ASEAN, which are many Asian-Pacific countries that we would like to have even stronger relations with – might be seen as a bit of a retreat from our independent foreign policy to one that's more closely in lockstep with what might be described as the Anglosphere, English-speaking countries."
Patman also said the Government has a balancing act on its hands.
"Politics is often about choices between the disagreeable and the intolerable. There are very few painless options available.
"The Government's in an exploratory stage... One of the benefits on offer there is access to cutting-edge defence technology but the Government has to weigh that up carefully against some of the potential pitfalls. That's going to be an exercise in political judgement."
He wanted to see more detail around the planned briefing from the Australian delegation.
"I wasn't quite clear from the documentation available so far, and it is an unfolding story, exactly who they were gonna brief.
"[Prime Minister Christopher] Luxon said during the election campaign that he wanted a bipartisan approach to foreign policy.
"Will the Australian delegation be briefing parliamentarians in general, not just National, New Zealand First or ACT?
"That's an interesting question."
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