The Disarmament and Security Centre, alongside World Beyond War Aotearoa, recently held a Disarm Kōrero series on AUKUS. It was an important collection of speakers who had much to add to the current debate relating to AUKUS Pillar Two and New Zealand’s decision to sign on or not.
The co-hosts consider that the decision to join AUKUS is a major foreign policy and defense shift for Aotearoa NZ, and one that will have multi-generational impacts. We consider that more information needs to be in the public realm to generate discussion and debate. Therefore the purpose of this series was to provide a forum for people to come together to hear a range of views on the issue, to ask questions and share their thoughts.
Session one was titled, "Joining AUKUS Pillar 2 - In Aotearoa New Zealand’s Interests?" and was held on Friday November 22nd.
Dr Sian Troath from the Australian National University spoke about the growing evidence of the military-industrial-academic complex in Australia. She noted the changes this was having to funding and direction of Universities, as well as funding priorities and direction of Government policies. She noted the when we're trying to understand what AUKUS is all about, rather than asking, "What is AUKUS?" a more enlightening question is "Who is AUKUS for?".
After hearing from Sian, Dr. Damien Rogers, from the University of Waikato, insightfully mapped out for us the current academic debate in New Zealand on AUKUS Pillar Two. In his view, there has not been much impartial academic discussion that weighs up both sides of this debate. Instead, there have been incentives for them to create knowledge on this issue in that it allows academics to get closer to the policy making space. He views this as a problematic departure from the role of an academic which is not to make policy recommendations, but to unpack issues and analyse them.
The second part of the Disarm Kōrero on AUKUS was held on Friday 29th November and the topic was "AUKUS pillar two - what does it involve? And how does it affect Aotearoa / NZ?".
Dr Marco de Jung from Auckland University of Technology explained the two pillars of AUKUS and the objectives. He provided a well-crafted argument against New Zealand signing onto pillar two. He discussed the three key implications if New Zealand were to join pillar two and criticised the ability of AUKUS to address its objectives as a blunt tool with no coherent strategy. In his view, AUKUS would not achieve its goals of maintaining US primacy and containing China, and would create instability in the Pacific region.
You can view the video of Marco's talk here:
The third and final part of the series was held on 6th December and the topic was"AUKUS agreement - how are our neighbours reacting?"
This included speakers Dr Marianne Hanson from the University of Queensland and Dr Iati Iati from Victoria University of Wellington.
Dr Marianne Hanson is well researched in international relations and peace and conflict studies. Marianne views AUKUS as Australia moving down the track of allowing greater US presence. This is evidenced by the expansion of US bases in Australia and the deployment of tens of thousands of US troops in Australia. She views AUKUS as a downgrading of international law and norms in regard to nuclear weapons and militarisation. In her view, there is also a great upswelling of anti-AUKUS feeling and unprecedented public resistance.
Dr Iati Iati is an expert on security in the Pacific and knowledgeable about the key issues AUKUS raises about Pacific security. He discussed the three positions Pacific nations are divided into regarding AUKUS: the common belief that AUKUS is not good for security in the Pacific, the belief that it is good for security in the Pacific, and the middle ground. Investment in AUKUS is viewed by many Pacific nations as a clear lack of regard towards the Pacific by AUKUS, since the $360 billion used in AUKUS could have helped mitigate climate change in the Pacific.
Thank you to all our guest speakers, and our audience participants, for joining us for this series. We hope you found it interesting. Stay tuned for our sessions in 2025!
