Point of Order: Nanaia Mahuta to meet with Nato ministers....

.....and will deepen the connections (e.g. indigenous rights?) between Māori and Sámi

Less than a year ago, when Jacinda Ardern was Prime Minister, she became the first New Zealander to be invited to speak at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Leaders Summit.

New Zealand was invited to join the leaders of the alliance of North American and European countries along with Australia, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Our ministers, including Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta, had attended previous NATO meetings, but this was the first time New Zealand had been invited to the Leader’s Summit.

New Zealand and NATO first signed a formal bilateral partnership arrangement in 2012.

Ardern’s successor, Chris Hipkins, two months ago reiterated this country’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a call with NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.

“The Prime Minister conveyed the strong value New Zealand places on its partnership with NATO and committed to cooperating to address common security challenges,” a prime ministerial spokesperson said at the time.

But former Green Party MP Keith Locke is unhappy with the way the partnership has evolved.

In an article for Newsroom, he huffed that the invitation for Ardern to attend the Nato Leaders Summit might look like an honour and an opportunity,

“… but it has big downsides. Getting too tied up with Nato compromises our non-nuclear status and our independent foreign policy, which has been focused on peace-making more than war making.”

We expect Keith Locke will be further concerned by news that Nanaia Mahuta is headed for another meeting with Nato.

Her plans are recorded on the Beehive website along with news of the Government responding to the Productivity Commission’s report on Immigration and an announcement that a secure facility to house protected information for a broad range of government agencies is being constructed at the RNZAF Base in Whenuapai.

Come to think of it, this facility has a distinctive Big Brother ring to it and we would not be surprised to hear that Keith Locke – and anyone concerned about the protection of data held by the government – will be railing against this too.

The latest Beehive announcements are –

Interim Response to the Productivity Commission’s Report – Immigration

The Government has released its interim response to the Productivity Commission’s Report, Immigration – Fit for the Future.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta to attend NATO meeting

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, departs for Europe today, where she will attend a session of the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Brussels and make a short bilateral visit to Sweden.

Secure all-of-government facility to be built at Whenuapai

A secure facility that will house protected information for a broad range of government agencies is being constructed at RNZAF Base Auckland (Whenuapai).

In her statement, Nanaia Mahuta described NATO as “a long-standing and like-minded partner for Aotearoa New Zealand”.

It was valuable to join a session of this meeting in person, to express this country’s ongoing condemnation of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine one year on, and as NATO and New Zealand work to renew our formal partnership this year.

NATO and New Zealand had been engaged in dialogue and cooperation for over 25 years and New Zealand supported NATO-led efforts in Afghanistan between 2001-2021.

“It is important that we continue to engage with our close partners to address shared security challenges, many of which are global in nature with wide-ranging implications, including in the Pacific

“The visit will also provide the opportunity to hold bilateral calls with a number of my counterparts from the NATO allies and our other close partners,” Nanaia Mahuta said.

After two days in Brussels, Nanaia Mahuta will spend two days in Stockholm, where she will meet with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.

Sweden is the current president of the EU and one of New Zealand’s closest European partners whose strong support helped enable the successful negotiation of the NZ-EU Free trade agreement, Mahuta said.

While in Stockholm Nanaia Mahuta will also engage with Sámi representatives, including the President of the Swedish Sámi Parliament Plenary Assembly, Daniel Holst Vinka.

“As indigenous peoples, Māori and Sámi share many interests and already work together on a number of challenges on the international stage. This is an opportunity to deepen these connections,” Nanaia Mahuta said.

Not too much media attention has been devoted to the connections between Māori and Sámi, but a Te Karere TVNZ report in 2021 was headed Māori Parliament: Sami experience gives insight into road to self-determination

Here we learn that the chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is encouraging Māori to continue in its pursuit of indigenous autonomy.

A Sámi woman, Anne Nuorgam, enthuses about full self-determination and we are told there are three indigenous Sámi parliaments – in Norway, Finland and Sweden.

Nanaia Mahuta – who was interviewed by the Te Karere reporter about what could be learned from Sámi – said Maori could perhaps discuss such a path.

In his Newsroom article, Keith Locke said Nato is a nuclear weapons-based alliance (three of its members, Britain, France and the United States, possess such weapons) and the alliance has aggressively campaigned against any moves by the international community to find a path to complete nuclear disarmament.

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton