Labour leader Chris Hipkins has labelled the government’s so-far refusal to rule out joining US President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ an “absolute disgrace”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been invited to join the new organisation, saying last week he would give it “due consideration” and on Tuesday confirming it was still a possibility.
Hipkins is just playing silly games.
I am confident in saying that the probability of Christopher Luxon joining the Board of Peace is somewhere between 0.0% and 0.0000%.
Trump’s Board of Peace requires a $1 billion contribution to stay in (makes the UN look like value for money!), and the Chair (Trump) can:
Trump’s Board of Peace requires a $1 billion contribution to stay in (makes the UN look like value for money!), and the Chair (Trump) can:
- decide who is invited as members of the Board
- decide who gets renewed unless they pay $1 billion
- Approve every member country’s representative to the Board
- approve the selection of the members of the Board of Peace’s Executive Board
- veto any decision of the Executive Board
- unilaterally adopt any resolution to implement the mission
- can dissolve the board at any time
- is the final authority on any disputes
So let’s be clear – the Board of Peace is a crazy institution which New Zealand will not be joining.
But how and when you decline is important. It is well documented that Trump can take offence very easily, and his response can be to impose 100% tariffs in a country if he is offended. It’s ridiculous, but it is the reality we live in.
Hipkins and others think that doing a Hugh Grant Love Actually performance where you give the US President a verbal bollocking is what New Zealand should do. Well sure it will get you cheers on Bluesky. But when 100,000 more New Zealanders are out of work because of 100% tariffs on our exports, was that a price worth paying just so you feel tough? 100,000 families who lose their main source of income because you want to feel like you’re a tough man?
The job of the Prime Minister is to work in New Zealand’s best interests. And of course that doesn’t mean joining the Board of Peace. But it means taking your time in considering it, and when you decline, doing so in a non-insulting way. If Hipkins thinks that is disgraceful, then he is not fit to take up his old office.
Frankly our best option might be to just say nothing and hope Trump forgets he even invited us!
UPDATE: Since I wrote this, the PM has just come out and said he will not be joining the board in its current form.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
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