New Zealand defence policy under Labour

Abstract

It is now two and a half years since the United States suspended military co­-operation with the Armed Forces of New Zealand (AFNZ) following the Labour Government's refusal to grant port-access to the USS Buchanan in January 1985. In this thesis I propose to study the consequences of the breakdown for the AFNZ with a view to establishing exactly what areas of co-operation have been affected and the significance this has for the professionalism and capability of the Services. Thus far, very few public studies have been made of the direct military costs of the ANZUS rift. Most attention has been focused on the state of political relations between the ANZUS powers. It is however, impossible to make a fully informed judgement about the merits of the Government's present defence policy of developing closer relations with Australia in the context of what it claims is a more self-reliant defence posture without some understanding of the problems that policy seeks to remedy. Accordingly, I hope to present that necessary background, and from this point will go on to discuss the extent to which the Government's defence policy addresses itself to the problems generated by the rift with the United States. Show more