Yearly Archives: 2009

The New Zealand Parliament today joined other nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union in supporting Iranian citizens calling for an impartial examination of their recent election.

Green MP Keith Locke investigates the claims of safety for tasers, and finds that other countries are concerned that the devices are not as safe as we have been told.

5. KEITH LOCKE (Green) to the Prime Minister: Will he make public any decision for or against the deployment of the New Zealand Special Air Service to Afghanistan as soon as a decision is reached; if not, why not?

Keith Locke's speech in support of the bill.

Any decision on whether New Zealand Special Forces should return to Afghanistan must be postponed pending an inquiry into whether there was mistreatment of prisoners the NZ Special Air Service (SAS) handed over to American forces in an earlier deployment, said Green Party MP Keith Locke.

Keith Locke's speech at the first reading of the Search and Surveillance Bill.

6. KEITH LOCKE (Green) to the Prime Minister: Will he be withdrawing New Zealand’s successful provincial reconstruction team from Afghanistan, and instead sending a deployment of the New Zealand Special Air Service; if so, why?

In around two weeks time the government will make an important decision on whether to send New Zealand's SAS troops back to Afghanistan. The government has in front of it a very significant foreign policy decision. At stake is whether New Zealand continues on a path towards a more independent foreign policy, constructively engaged in peacemaking and peacekeeping, or whether it falls back into a more subordinate role in a Western alliance structure led by the United States.

KEITH LOCKE (Green) : I move, That the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance. That matter is the commitment by the Government of special forces to Afghanistan. The Green Party is strongly opposed to the Governments decision to send the SAS back to Afghanistan. We do not want our soldiers fighting and dying in an unjustifiable war that is not helping the Afghan people. It is very important that we have this debate today, because we as a Parliament should always debate the sending of New Zealand combat troops overseas to participate in foreign military conflicts. We should never lightly risk the lives of our soldiers, and we should never lightly participate in armed conflicts, which inevitably result in much death and destruction and have a huge impact on the lives of local people.