Will Ban Australian Nuclear Submarine Fleet From Our Waters: New Zealand

Welligton: New Zealand won’t lift a decades-long ban on nuclear-powered vessels entering its waters within the wake of key ally Australia’s decision to develop a nautilus fleet, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday.
Ardern said her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison had briefed her on Canberra’s decide to develop nuclear-powered submarines with the assistance of the us and Britain.

She described the deal as “primarily around technology and defence hardware”, playing down implications for the so-called “Five Eyes” partnership of the us , Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

“This arrangement in no way changes our security and intelligence ties with these three countries, also as Canada,” the New Zealand leader said during a statement.

But she also said New Zealand would maintain a ban on nuclear-powered vessels that dates back to 1985, meaning Wellington won’t allow the prized naval asset being developed by Australia into its waters.

“New Zealand’s position in reference to the prohibition of nuclear-powered vessels in our waters remains unchanged,” Ardern said.

The ban was introduced within the wake of French nuclear testing within the Pacific and led to the United States Navy banning its warships from entering New Zealand ports for quite 30 years.

The destroyer USS Sampson visited in late 2016 but only after the then-prime minister John Key gave a special exemption, saying he was “100 percent confident” the vessel wasn’t nuclear powered or carrying nuclear weapons

Official US policy is to neither confirm nor deny whether its vessels are nuclear-capable.