Former New Zealand Green MP. Campaigner for peace and human rights.
[Published in The Spinoff, 9 September 2018] Winston Peters says the Orion is to implement UN sanctions, but that’s only half the story, writes former Green MP Keith Locke We all know the erratic nature of Donald Trump’s policy towards North Korea. One moment he’s threatening a military assault. The next moment he’s all buddy-buddyContinue reading Why on earth is NZ sending a plane into the Kim-and-Trump tinderbox?
[Published in The Spinoff, 14 July 2018] The purchase of four surveillance planes signals an even closer military alignment with the United States, and the reflects badly on our non-aligned status, writes former Green Party defence spokesperson Keith Locke. It was disappointing to see a Labour-led government agree to spend $2.3 billion on four P8AContinue reading Splashing $2.3 billion on aircraft erodes NZ’s independent foreign policy
[As presented in person to the Justice Select Committee, 30 April 2018] Summary I am strongly opposed to this Bill, and I urge the Select Committee to reject it. The Bill violates the right of Members of Parliament to free speech and the freedom of political association. These are fundamental human rights guaranteed in theContinue reading Keith Locke’s submission to the NZ Parliament on the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill
[A talk given by Keith Locke in Blenheim to activists in the Anti-Bases Campaign on 27 January 2018] Most New Zealanders want us to have an independent foreign policy. They think we are already independent to some degree. If pressed they would cite our nuclear-free status, or the fact that we don’t always go along withContinue reading What an Independent New Zealand Foreign Policy would look like
[An opinion piece published in the New Zealand Herald, 10 January 2018.] The bill before Parliament to stop party-hopping has been misnamed. The Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill should be called the Party Conformity Bill because it threatens MPs with ejection from Parliament if they don’t conform to party dictates. Personal political integrity will be constrained,Continue reading Keith Locke: Party-hopping bill is a restraint on MPs’ freedom of speech
[An opinion piece published in the New Zealand Herald, 10 March 2017] Parliament’s intelligence and security committee was in the news recently when Labour’s Andrew Little nominated Winston Peters for membership. Little also proposed expanding the committee to include a Green member by amending the Intelligence and Security Bill currently before Parliament. In practice, theContinue reading Keith Locke: Parliament’s watchdog committee has no teeth
Presented as introductory comments at a workshop hosted by the Anti-Bases Campaign in Blenheim, 28 Jan 2017, and updated to reflect changes made to intelligence legislation in the Intelligence and Security Act 2017. By Keith Locke Were the SIS and GSB set up to detect terrorists? The Security Intelligence Service (SIS), and the Police SpecialContinue reading Answers to some common myths about New Zealand’s intelligence services, the Five Eyes and the Waihopai spy station
(An opinion piece published in the New Zealand Herald, 13 December 2016.) Most of us know there were conscientious objectors who refused to fight in World War I. Many were sent to jail for their stand. Less well-known are the 107 New Zealanders who were convicted for “sedition”, simply for speaking out against conscription orContinue reading Keith Locke: Let’s honour centenary of those we jailed for opposing wartime conscription
(A talk by Keith Locke to a seminar on “Just War?”, hosted by the NZ Christian Network, NZ Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust, Pax Christi and the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship,in Auckland, 19 November 2016.) The message of this talk is that war, as it becomes a more technological enterprise, is becoming even more barbaricContinue reading The Terrifying Consequences of High-Tech War
[Submission by Keith Locke to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee, 3 October 2016] Main Point The NZ Intelligence and Security Bill unnecessarily allows for greater surveillance of New Zealanders by our intelligence services and intrudes further on our privacy. The definition of national security is so broad that it could enable evenContinue reading Submission on the NZ Intelligence and Security Bill