Goff offers feeble excuses about nuclear free Middle East vote

Green Party MP Keith Locke has criticised Disarmament Minister Phil Goff for New Zealand's abstention on a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency last week that called for a nuclear-free Middle East.

"It was a very good and clear resolution," Mr Locke, the Greens’ Disarmament Spokesperson, says.

"The Government has betrayed our nuclear-free nation. New Zealanders want this country to be an anti-nuclear leader on the world stage, and not just a follower of other Western nations.

"Strangely, Mr Goff's press statement fails to disclose the real reason for New Zealand's abstention. In calling for a nuclear free Middle East, the resolution was implicitly criticising Israel, for its possession of nuclear weapons.

"There were two new clauses that horrified the New Zealand and other Western-aligned governments. The first one called on 'all States of the region….not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons’ or to permit the stationing of such weapons or nuclear explosive devices on territories that they rule or control. The second clause asked states to 'refrain from any action that would hinder efforts aiming at [the zone's] establishment.'

"How hypocritical is it for New Zealand to support sanctions against Iran, a country which has yet to develop nuclear weapons - and yet refuse to support a straightforward motion which indirectly criticises the nuclear arms that Israel currently possesses, and which serve as a barrier to achieving a nuclear free Middle East.

"There is no way that Mr Goff can cite 'lack of consultation' as an excuse for refusing to join the 53 countries who voted in favour, a list that included Ireland. The resolution's final text was known some time in advance. And if Mr Goff's persists with that line to ‘explain’ what went wrong with the vote back then, could he at least tell us now what is wrong with the resolution ? “ Mr Locke says.