International analyst Geoffrey Miller examines Nanaia Mahuta’s first travel abroad as foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta’s first foreign trip is finally underway. New Zealand’s foreign minister began a seven-country tour of Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, the UAE, Qatar, the US and Canada on Thursday. Mahuta was appointed foreign minister a year ago this month. New Zealand’s specific …
International analyst Geoffrey Miller looks ahead to the opportunities and challenges for New Zealand’s hosting of APEC Leaders’ Week New Zealand’s hosting of APEC Leaders’ Week is about to begin. Were it not for Covid-19, the week would be a once-in-a-generation, high-profile opportunity for New Zealand to showcase itself to 20 visiting leaders from around …
International analyst Geoffrey Miller explains why the free trade agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom is not just about building back butter The new Aukus defence pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States will go down as one of this year’s biggest foreign policy surprises. By contrast, only the exact …
International analyst Geoffrey Miller considers New Zealand’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai and asks whether it can help to deepen the country’s ties with the Middle East Expo 2020 is a chance to reconsider New Zealand’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Gulf. The six-month mega-event on Dubai’s outskirts – the first …
International analyst Geoffrey Miller considers the implications for New Zealand of the new Aukus partnership China’s level of anger at the new Aukus defence pact between Australia, the UK and the US was only to be expected. France’s was not. And Paris’s dramatic recall of its ambassadors to Canberra and Washington at the weekend may …
International analyst Geoffrey Miller reflects on the impact that the September 11 attacks had on New Zealand’s foreign policy This week’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 is also an opportunity to recall the impact the tragedy – and the response to it – had on New Zealand’s wider …
International analyst Geoffrey Miller says New Zealand’s latest Covid-19 outbreak has once again delayed the country’s return to top-level face-to-face diplomacy – but this comes at a cost New Zealand’s new outbreak of Covid-19 has also stalled an attempt to restart the country’s top-level diplomatic engagement. Given the Delta variant’s spread in Auckland, a rumoured …
Geoffrey Miller looks over the lessons from the special APEC summit Today’s special virtual APEC summit was so modest in its aims that it was officially referred to only as an ‘informal leaders’ retreat on Covid-19’. From the outset, host Jacinda Ardern dampened down expectations for the meeting, warning reporters not to expect any significant …
Senior Twitter executives this week spoke at a Dunedin conference on social media and democracy to explain the platform’s approach towards freedom of expression. The high-level participation at the two-day conference by three of Twitter’s managers appears to be one of the first times that Twitter has engaged in such a public forum to explain …
A new analysis of the careers that MPs held before they were elected reveals New Zealand’s 53rd Parliament represents an extremely diverse range of work and life experiences. The research, by BlacklandPR and the Democracy Project, identified over 200 different careers, and over 500 individual jobs among Parliamentarians. The five most popular careers for MPs …
Geoffrey Miller looks at New Zealand’s growing relationship with the Middle East and North Africa – and contemplates its future Amidst New Zealand’s level 4 coronavirus lockdown in March, all but a handful of the country’s troops stationed in Iraq returned home, three months earlier than scheduled. The New Zealand personnel had been deployed to …
Over the past 30 years, ministerial responsibility for New Zealand’s foreign affairs has changed hands remarkably rarely. Since 1990, just four individuals have dominated the portfolio – Don McKinnon (1990-1999), Phil Goff (1999-2005), Winston Peters (2005-8 and again from 2017 to 2020) and Murray McCully (2008-2017). Only two others have held the role, and then …
News is not in short supply in the Middle East, and at the weekend, Arabic-language media remained firmly focused on the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. Nevertheless, the New Zealand election – and above all Jacinda Ardern’s personal success – still received significant attention from Arabic-language TV news channels, newspapers and particularly on …
By Geoffrey Miller New Zealand should continue to champion human rights in Belarus amidst an ongoing crackdown on protests by the country’s regime, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says. Protests in Belarus – often referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ – erupted after the country’s disputed presidential elections on August 9 and are now entering …
By Geoffrey Miller A former Minister of Defence says the government was too slow to involve the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) in New Zealand’s response to Covid-19. But Wayne Mapp, a National MP from 1996-2011 who served as Minister of Defence for three years during John Key’s first term as Prime Minister, told the …
By Geoffrey Miller Winston Peters has made his first comments on the ongoing crisis in Belarus, following rigged elections in the country often referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’. Belarus’s President, Alexander Lukashenko, is refusing to give up power despite days of mass protests following presidential elections that have been widely seen as fraudulent. Official …
New Zealand needs to speak out against allegations of mass torture and brutality in Belarus following the Eastern European country’s recent elections, a Belarusian national living in New Zealand says. Last Sunday’s election – which saw strongman Alexander Lukashenko claim 80% of the vote in a result that is widely seen as fraudulent – has …
By Geoffrey Miller Prominent refugee advocate Murdoch Stephens says he is disappointed by Judith Collins’ reaction to Immigration New Zealand’s decision to grant refugee status to Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani. Judith Collins told media last month that “there’s a lot of concern in New Zealand about what they see as queue jumping and so I’m …
By Geoffrey Miller A former MP and Associate Minister of Defence says that New Zealand’s Covid-19 border and quarantine issues illustrate why a new dedicated national security agency is needed. Heather Roy, a former deputy leader of the Act Party who held the associate defence portfolio from 2008-10, told the Democracy Project podcast that a …
By Geoffrey Miller A New Zealand academic specialising in Latin America believes that NZ’s relationship with Latin America will remain strong, even if direct flights do not immediately resume to the continent after the immediate coronavirus crisis subsides. Nikita Kent, a Victoria University of Wellington graduate who studied in Peru and recently completed a UN …
The Peruvian government knows it cannot afford a health epidemic. In early March, Peru took quick and decisive action to combat the coronavirus. If preventative action is not taken, the overall hygiene practices and health status of Peruvians give rise to the perfect circumstances for devastating rates of coronavirus cases and mortalities. As of April …