Call for greater control in return for NZ aid

Murray McCully

New Zealand needs to demand greater governance in return for its aid in the Pacific, the National Party believes.

It wants more of New Zealand's aid money directed into the Pacific so that defections like that at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) are not repeated.

National MP Murray McCully has also suggested Conservation Minister Chris Carter be replaced as lead negotiator at the IWC.

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said it was "outrageous" that Mr McCully was advocating making New Zealand aid in the Pacific dependent on votes at international forums.

Pro-whaling nations won their first vote at the IWC in over 20 years after four Pacific Island nations sided with Japan despite telling the Government here they would not.

The Solomons, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru had previously given Mr Carter undertakings they would not vote in favour of overturning the 20-year moratorium on commercial hunts of whales.

The vote was a non-binding declaration, which passed 33 votes to 32. It will not end the moratorium - which needs a 75 per cent majority to be overturned - but it was a political victory for pro-whaling Japan and its allies.

Mr McCully said yesterday the defection of key Pacific states in Monday's vote was the result of a half-hearted, insufficiently focused New Zealand aid strategy in the Pacific.

He accused Prime Minister Helen Clark of being "naive" in refusing to link New Zealand aid to the conduct of Pacific nations at the IWC.

The quid pro quo for New Zealand aid should be a higher standard of governance from our Pacific neighbours, he said.

"In spite of the so-called special relationship New Zealand enjoys with the Pacific states, Japan has marched in and bought the votes of nations like Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Solomons from under our noses."

He said Mr Peters should be playing a role in discussions about whaling. "It doesn't seem to me very sensible that the Minister of Conservation should be the chief negotiator in that respect when you've got the Minister of Foreign Affairs dispensing a large budget and also conducting the personal relationships."

Mr Peters said New Zealand had always focused aid where it was needed most in the Pacific.

"Binding aid to the compliance of Pacific countries with the policies and procedures of donor countries is the exact thing we are trying to get rid of."

Mr Peters said he would register New Zealand's disagreement with the positions taken at the IWC with the Pacific countries involved.

- NZPA