Clark attacked in Australian newspaper editorial

3pm

Prime Minister Helen Clark has made a distinction between New Zealand and Australia's stances over war in Iraq which is odious and wrong, The Australian newspaper says in an editorial today.

Helen Clark has said that she places principle above politics and does not care if her opposition to the war in Iraq reduces the chance of a free trade agreement with the United States, the paper says.

It quotes her: "The Government does not trade the lives of young New Zealanders for a war it does not believe in order to secure some material advantage."

This distinction between New Zealand and Australia, which has forces in Iraq and is negotiating a free trade agreement with the US, is "obvious, odious and plain wrong," The Australian says.

"Our forces have fought with the US over the decades without a trade agreement and doubtless would be serving in the Middle East even if trade talks had not started in Canberra last month."

The diplomatic push that led to last month's first round of negotiations began in the earliest days of the Bush administration, before the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001 activated the US-Australian alliance.

"While it might surprise Miss Clark, the Australian Government can simultaneously walk and chew gum and has always kept trade policy and national security separate."

Just because the two countries are firm friends does not mean the trade talks will be any easier, the paper says.

"In so theatrically asserting that there was ever any possibility of trading guns for butter, Miss Clark conveniently overlooks the stark fact that New Zealand's trade strategy is not prospering. She says New Zealand's preference is for general trade reform but the next day the WTO (World Trade Organisation) announced that negotiations on agricultural trade reform were deadlocked.

"Nor did Miss Clark mention that she had unsuccessfully sought a free trade deal with the US in March 2002. She had then urged Australia not to forget New Zealand in its own negotiations with the Americans. With an economy that has slipped from ninth to 20th on the OECD rankings of industrialised nations since 1970, New Zealand can afford the high moral ground but very little else."

The Australian is owned by the Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Ltd. It has been a strong supporter of Australia's involvement in the Iraq war and long been a critic of New Zealand's defence policies.

- NZPA

Herald Feature: Iraq war