The government continues to explore joining Aukus Pillar 2 but some groups are concerned about impacts and the lack of input from Māori.
Te Ao Māori News talked to Rhieve Grey of Te Kuaka, a group that advocates for a progressive role for Aotearoa in the world.
Grey completed a master’s degree in public policy at Oxford University, and he questioned whether Aukus was aligned to Māori values and priorities.
The focus of the argument from the coalition government has been that the previous Labour government also considered exploration but Aukus critics say this is irrelevant and concerns would be raised to whoever is in power.
Pacific historian Marco de Jong has described Aukus as generational policy and a security pact between Australia, the UK and the US whose objective was upholding military primacy and containing China.
A breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi
But Grey said if the government decided to join Aukus it would be a serious violation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as well as He Whakaputanga because it didn’t talk to hapū and iwi.
“Ahakoa kei a tātou tonu te tino rangatiratanga kia whakamana i ngā hononga ki whenua kē atu,” he said.
We still have the sovereignty to enforce relations with other countries.
Grey argued the government didn’t have full sovereignty to make such decisions.
Although Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has discussed Aukus, there have been few other Māori voices central to the conversation.
Dr Arama Rata, who is also a member of Te Kuaka, told Te Ao Māori News in 2023, “in the case of both AUKUS Pillar II and NATO, the government risks sleepwalking into military arrangements that seriously jeopardise its purported commitment to independent foreign policy.”
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packed has called for neutrality, peace, and referred to Aukus as a war machine.
A promotion or risk for security and safety?
Aukus claims to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and safe but opponents argue it compromises stability in the region due to the targeting of China.
While there are many aspects to Aukus, Grey said it was about the battle for control in the Pacific. The US was concerned about the rise of China, which it believed was a threat it needed to reinforce against.
“Koinei te take matua o tēnei hononga, he whakakoitanga i te taiaha o te United States i runga i te moana,” he said.
This is the main reason for this partnership, which is to strengthen the military capabilities of the United States on the ocean.
Grey said the US’ attitude was dangerous as it could entice conflict with China and lead to war in the Pacific Ocean.
Marco de Jong said Aukus aimed to win the next generation arms race. He rejected the belief New Zealand had anything to gain because the technology described for Aukus was advanced military technology such as hypersonic missiles, autonomous weapons systems and new advances in electronic warfare.
Pacific ocean sacred, not a war zone
“E kī ana te kōrero, ka rere te wairua ki Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa, Hawaiki pāmamao. Hei tā ētahi iwi o konei, ko ngā motu o Te Moana nui a Kiwa, he Hawaiki. Nō reira, he momo wāhi tapu Te Moana nui a Kiwa ki a tātou. Ehara i te wāhi tika mō te whai pakanga, he takahi i ngā wairua o ō mātou tīpuna.”
It is said that the spirit flies to the great Hawaiki, the distant Hawaiki, the remote Hawaiki. According to some tribes here, the islands of the Pacific are Hawaiki. So the Pacific is a sacred place for us. It is not a place for war to be waged, and for the spirits of our ancestors to be violated.
“E ai ki ngā kāwanatanga nui o AUKUS, ko te US, ko te UK, ko Australia, ko te moana, he wāhi mō te pakanga. Ki a tātou, he wāhi taonga, he wāhi tapu, otirā, he wāhi whakapapa. Nō reira, ki taku nei titiro, kāre tātou e hiahia ana kia ngaro te moana hei wāhi (kai) mō te pakanga.”
To the major governments of AUKUS, the US, the UK, Australia, the sea is a place to be fought over. For us, it is a place of wealth, a sacred place, a place of heritage. Therefore, in my view, we do not want the ocean to be lost to war.
US in its ‘support for genocide’
“Me tino mataara tātou i tēnei wā, nā te mea kei te piri haere tēnei kāwanatanga ki te United States,”
We must be very careful at this time because this government is getting closer to the United States.
“Kua hē katoa a te US i ōna mahi i Gaza me tana tautoko i te genocide o Ngāi Paretinia,” Grey said.
The US has done everything wrong in its actions in Gaza and its support for the genocide of Palestinians.
The coalition government has also been criticised for inconsistency in its call for support for rules-based order.
Ngarewa-Packer condemned Luxon when he met with US President Joe Biden at the NATO summit, saying he should have taken the opportunity to “stand up against genocide” instead of strengthening ties to the US, which she said had “unconditional support for Israel”.
Pacific priorities, Maori values and climate change
Grey said to remember the greatest threat at the moment wasn’t China. Instead, it was climate change and right now Aotearoa needed to prioritise Papatūānuku, focus on protecting the sea and peoples who had been oppressed by superpower governments.
The real problems, he said, were rising sea levels for the islands, the arrival of big companies extracting resources, marine pollution, the annihilation of marine life and corals.
“Kei wareware tātou, he whanaunga, he tuakana ngā tāngata o Te Moana. Tirohia ngā whakapapa o tēnā iwi, o tēnā iwi, ka kitea he whakapapa ki te moana, he whakapapa ki ngā tāngata o te moana. Ko ō tātou tīpuna tērā, he tangata moana. Nō reira, āe kua rerekē ngā reo, kua rerekē ngā tikanga, engari he wā tōna kia whakakotahi ai tātou i raro i te tiaki i te moana. Ko tō rātou whawhai mō te tino rangatiratanga, mō te mana motuhake, rite tonu mai ki ngā whaiwhai o tēnei motu, o tēnei whenua,” he said.
Lest we forget, the people of the Pacific are our relatives, our brothers, and sisters. Look at the genealogy of each iwi, and you will find a genealogical link to the sea, a genealogical link to the people of the sea. Our ancestors were seafaring people. Yes, the language has changed, the customs have changed, but there is a time for us to unite under the protection of the ocean. Their fight for sovereignty and independence is the same as the fight in this country.