No Deal, Mr Bush
The Green Party is urging Helen Clark not to sacrifice this
country's
long-held nuclear-free policy on the altar of
free trade.
"Helen Clark will be under immense pressure
when she meets with President
Bush," Green Party Foreign
Affairs spokesperson, Keith Locke said today.
"But she
must not leave even a crack open in the door."
"We expect
the White House to push for what they will portray as
a
'symbolic' concession in the nuke-free policy.
"Such
a concession would indeed be symbolic: it would symbolise
the end of
our most defining foreign policy stand."
If
this Government is serious about promoting trade, said Mr
Locke, they
should balance the dubious benefit of a US
free-trade deal against the
cost of ditching our nuclear
free policy, in terms of tourist numbers and
trade
opportunities.
"Our much-admired 'clean green' image is
greatly helped by being
nuclear-free," said Keith Locke.
"Not only could that image be
compromised, but Bush is
also likely to try and weaken our stance on GE
and our
labelling laws, as part of any free trade deal.
"The Green
vision of our future sees trade opportunities opening up
around
the world for produce from an organic nation which
is both nuclear free
and GE free. Helen Clark should be
aware that Mr Bush's agenda is not in
this country's best
interests."
Ends