Are we still living in the same country that told America what to do with its nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships?

Are we still living in the same country that declared itself a nuclear-free zone? Which had Washington throwing its toys and telling us that it wouldn’t be sharing intelligence with us if its ships weren’t welcome.

But that didn’t put us off and the no nukes policy has been in place ever since.

That was back in 1984. Fast-forward to 2026 and it is a completely different story.

Which is why we’ve got former foreign affairs minister Phil Goff saying today that Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters are scared of US president Donald Trump. He says the Government’s response to US and Israel attacking Iran has been “weak and uncertain”. Which it has.

Not only that. Phil Goff is also saying today that New Zealand no longer has the courage to speak freely on international matters.

He says the Government knows full well that Donald Trump’s claim he was just responding to an imminent threat from Iran is nonsense. Fake news.

Phil Goff says the Government also knows full well that the attacks on Iran are illegal. But it’s too scared to say so because it’s worried about what reaction it might get from, as Goff puts it, a president who is “volatile, unpredictable and vindictive”.

He’s not getting any argument on the volatile and unpredictable bit from former defence minister Wayne Mapp, who says that’s exactly why the Government should be careful what it says.

Because Trump is contrary and you never know what he’s going to do.

Wayne Mapp says: “You do something that really upsets President Trump, you’re likely to be slapped with a 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent tariff.”

And he says the way the Government is handling things protects New Zealand’s interests.

I disagree. Because, if we want to be an independent, confident country, we have to take a stand on things - just like we did back in the 1980s with the nuclear thing.

Christopher Luxon’s background as a CEO is his undoing in situations like this.

Because chief executives are terrified of chaos. They like to have all their ducks lined-up before they make a decision or before they take a position on something.

They are the people who run everything past HR and the legal team because uncertainty is no friend of your chief executive.

So, of course, Christopher Luxon is going to say wishy-washy things like New Zealand “acknowledges” the attacks on Iran. Of course, he’s going to say it’s up to the US and Israel to determine whether the attacks are legal or not, because they’re the ones with all the information in front of them.

Anyone expecting anything different is dreaming. And, because of that, Phil Goff is right.

We are running scared and we have lost the courage to speak freely on international matters. Courage we used to have in spades.

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