Story by Phil Pennington of RNZ
The Labour Opposition is walking back its openness to joining one wing of the AUKUS military pact.
Although it says it has not finalised its position, its associate foreign affairs spokesperson called it an "offensive warfighting alliance against China".
Australia aims to send officials to New Zealand soon to talk about pillar two of the defence deal it set up in 2021 with the US and UK.
Labour, when in government last year, said it was "willing to explore" participating in pillar two, which focuses on developing and sharing military technology.
Now, however, associate foreign affairs spokesperson Phil Twyford has weighed in saying, "If ... this government wants to join an offensive warfighting alliance against China, it needs to tell New Zealanders this.
"If there's a war in the South China Sea ... is it this government's intention to be dragged into that conflict on the side of the US?" Twyford told the House, at the time the defence and foreign affairs ministers were lined up to meet their Australian counterparts early this month.
Labour foreign affairs spokesperson David Parker told RNZ on Friday the Australian officials "will probably be trying to sell it" when they come here.
Labour would not be privy to those talks, but both the benefits and disadvantages must be looked at, over and against the loaded phrases about "not freeloading" that Minister Judith Collins deployed, Parker said.
"I'm not really interested in jingoistic phrases, I'm interested in serious consideration."
He stopped short of saying the new government should not be exploring pillar two.
"We're questioning its utility and whether it is wise."
The pillar two debate comes at a crunch time when a weakened and cash-strapped NZDF is working on a new Defence Capability Plan that will chart out billions of spending on priority technology for years to come.
Labour foreign affairs spokesperson David Parker told RNZ on Friday the Australian officials "will probably be trying to sell it" when they come here.
Labour would not be privy to those talks, but both the benefits and disadvantages must be looked at, over and against the loaded phrases about "not freeloading" that Minister Judith Collins deployed, Parker said.
"I'm not really interested in jingoistic phrases, I'm interested in serious consideration."
He stopped short of saying the new government should not be exploring pillar two.
"We're questioning its utility and whether it is wise."
The pillar two debate comes at a crunch time when a weakened and cash-strapped NZDF is working on a new Defence Capability Plan that will chart out billions of spending on priority technology for years to come.
RNZ
