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See also what was said: Phil Goff Warns of Nuclear Holocaust and
New Zealand politicians stoke anti-nuclear activism at the end of this page
and Cooperating for Non-Proliferation
Nuclear-Free Legislation�th Anniversary
Full Transcript of Nuclear-Free Legislation�th Anniversary this has all the remarks and comments from all MPs debating.

Phil Goff to speak on NZ Nuclear Free on Sat. 9th June

Please forward to interested groups.
It was held in the Visitor's Lounge where the Nuclear Free NZ exhibition is showing until 22 July.

Hon Phil Goff, Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control is to speak at an interactive
Open Forum to commemorate the 20th anniversary of New Zealand's nuclear free legislation.

The Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control legislation entered into force on 8 June 1987.

He will be available afterwards to meet and take questions from the audience about his experiences and the Government's current disarmament policies.

Press and members of the public are welcome.

When Saturday 9 June at 10 am

Where Visitor Lounge, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.

Contact: Jeremy Seed (press secretary) 04 471 9794 or 021 278 7233 Jeremy.seed@parliament.govt.nz

All Phil Goff's media releases and speeches are posted at www.beehive.govt.nz   

20th Anniversary of NZ Nuclear Free Legislation - Press Release

Kate Dewes
Disarmament & Security Centre
P O Box 8390
Christchurch
Aotearoa/New Zealand
Ph/Fax: 64 3 348 1353
www.disarmsecure.org

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Questions for the Minister on Saturday

It is well-established that US intelligence can be faulty, 'cherry-picked' and/or used to influence the decisions of foreign governments as was done to justify the illegal Iraq war and alleged nuclear threats. Is there any way New Zealanders can know if such faulty intelligence on nuclear issues and threats is used to influence New Zealand governments, or whether, and to what degree, New Zealand's intelligence and foreign policy advisors may be influenced by such faulty and purposeful intelligence?

Is it possible that some New Zealand Government in the future might be influenced by an alleged but falsely staged international crisis backed by faulty intelligence, to alter its nuclear legislation and independent foreign policy to again accept US nuclear warships and offer military combat support for US wars such as that in Iraq?

Submitted by Larry Ross, Secretary/Founder, NZ Nuclear Free Peacemaking Association

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Phil Goff's warning to the 20th anniversary meeting in Christchurch June 9 of NZ's nuclear free zone is 100% correct. World survival is threatened by 27,000 nuclear weapons, some on 'hair-trigger' ready-to-launch status and a total of 8 nuclear weapon nations. At any time the world can be destroyed "by nuclear accident, miscalculation or deliberate act of madness" as President Kennedy warned at the UN in 1963. Even worse are new US nuclear weapons and new doctrines allowing the President to wage pre-emptive nuclear war, and also introduce nuclear weapons use into any conflict. This massive threat means everyone should be worried and active helping to stop this nuclear madness. New Zealand 's nuclear free law is more relevant today as Phil Goff says, than in 1984.

Wellington - On the 20th anniversary of New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation, the country's politicians have called for a southern hemisphere wide nuclear-free zone and for an end to investment in nuclear weapons, according to statements Saturday.
The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act was passed on June 8, 1987. It resulted in the country being suspended from the Anzus (Australia, New Zealand and Australia) defence pact with the US and Australia.
But Trade and Disarmament Minister Phil Goff told a forum in the South Island city of Christchurch that he wanted the whole of the southern hemisphere to become a nuclear-free zone within 20 years. He also criticized nations' complacency.
'The threat to the world of nuclear weapons grows as more countries acquire possession of them... With the world having lived with nuclear weapons for over sixty years, a key challenge today is international complacency about the threat they pose,' he said in a statement.
A co-leader of New Zealand's left-wing Green party, which is in the government coalition, also demanded the country withdraw NZ$30 million of taxpayer investment in companies involved in nuclear weapons production.

Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control): I move, That this House note that 8 June 2007 is the 20th anniversary of the passing by this House of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 and resolve that New Zealand should continue to work for a nuclear weapon � free world; and that, in striving for a world free of nuclear weapons, the House call for: the implementation and strengthening of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including the unequivocal undertaking made by nuclear weapon States in 2000 to move towards the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals; the expansion and strengthening of nuclear weapon � free zones and a nuclear weapon � free Southern Hemisphere; the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty; the enactment of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty; and the universal implementation of nuclear non-proliferation instruments such as the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540.