---

Thank you for being here today.

Most New Zealanders don’t spend much time thinking about foreign policy.

And that’s fair enough.

They're thinking about the mortgage, the rent, the grocery bill, and whether their business will have a good year.

But the truth is, foreign policy is increasingly affecting households up and down the country.

A tariff decision in Washington shows up in the price a Waikato farmer gets for her milk.

A shipping disruption half a world away shows up at the supermarket checkout.

A cyclone in the Pacific shows up in the work of our defence force, and in the worry of families here with whānau across the region.

So New Zealanders deserve a clear answer to a simple question: what does their country stand for in the world, and how will it protect their interests?

A world that won’t go back

The world is more uncertain, more fragmented and more competitive than at any time in recent memory.

The assumptions that have shaped international affairs for the past eighty years are under real strain.

Power is being exercised more openly and trade more transactionally.

The conduct of some of our closest partners has changed in ways few would have predicted a decade ago.

We cannot simply rely on old relationships, old institutions or old assumptions about trade, security and international cooperation. 

It is tempting to treat this as a storm to be waited out. That would be a mistake. 

We have to deal with the world as it is.

We must be clear about New Zealand's place and what we stand for.

If I were to sum up Labour's vision for foreign policy in three words, it would be this:

Independent. Principled.  Unafraid.

An independent voice

Our independence does not mean isolation. It means having the confidence to make our own decisions, in our own interests, and to explain them to our friends.

Generations of New Zealanders grew up with the moments that define that tradition.

There was the Kirk Government sending a frigate into the Mururoa test zone, and taking France to the International Court of Justice.

We were a country of barely three million people, taking on a nuclear power.

There was our stand against apartheid.

And there was David Lange at the Oxford Union, making the case that nuclear weapons are morally indefensible.

None of those decisions came without a cost, and each one tested a friendship. Each one also told the world something true about who we are.

We will never shape events through raw power. Our influence comes from something else: our credibility, our consistency, and our willingness to say what we think.

In practice, that means:

We can trade with a country while disagreeing with it.

We can work with a partner on one issue and challenge them on another.

We can have close friends without outsourcing our judgement to them.

Not independence from the world, but independence within the world.

And as the world shifts, so may the circle of countries we find ourselves standing alongside.

Our partners of the future will be those who share our principles and act on them. We should be open to finding them in new places.

The Pacific is our home

But our most important relationships are those nearest to us, with our Pacific neighbours and our friends across the Tasman in Australia.

The Pacific is not simply a region of strategic interest - we are a Pacific country.

The Pacific is our home. Our neighbours are our partners, our friends and our whānau.

The challenges we share can only be met together. They include climate change, economic resilience, disaster response, development and security.

Meeting them means respecting the sovereignty and leadership of Pacific nations. It means listening to what they tell us they need, rather than deciding for them.

Our vision is a Pacific that is peaceful, resilient and prosperous.

We want a Pacific that is not militarised, and one whose future is not dictated by rising seas and worsening storms.

We want a Pacific where every nation is free to make its own choices.

That requires New Zealand to be present, reliable and steadfast: the partner that turns up, and keeps turning up.

Australia is central to that. Ours is one of the closest relationships any two countries share.

It is a mature friendship. We don't always agree, and we don't need to.

I want to deepen it further, while each of us keeps our own voice.

More markets, higher value

As a country of five million people at the bottom of the world, trade has an enormous impact on the daily lives of New Zealanders – it is how we make our living.

But we have to be honest about the moment. Across much of the world, public support for globalisation is fading.

Many people have watched the gains flow to a few while their own work became less secure.

Some governments have responded by reaching for tariffs and turning trade into a tool of pressure.

New Zealand's answer cannot be to retreat, or to pretend nothing has changed.

We must be ready and agile enough to find new opportunities in a shifting world. We must be resilient.

First, we need to develop more markets. The more places our exporters can sell, the less exposed we are to any single one.

We will keep pursuing high-quality agreements that open new doors. We will also defend the rules-based trading system that small economies depend on.

Second, we need to make those agreements count. Signing a deal is the start of the job, not the end of it.

Too many small and medium-sized exporters lack the time or resources to use the access we've negotiated.

We will do more to help them through the door, so the gains reach businesses and workers across the country.

Third, we must keep changing what we sell. There are limits to how much milk, meat, timber and fruit our land can produce.

Future growth has to come from things that aren't bound by acres.

That means agritech and agriscience, environmental technology, fintech, software, gaming and the creative industries.

In these sectors ideas travel, and New Zealand already punches above its weight.

We need more markets, better use of them, and higher value in what we sell. That is how trade builds resilience at home, and how it earns back public confidence.

But while our focus on free and fair trade will remain a cornerstone of our approach to foreign policy, Labour also recognises how important it is for New Zealand to build our own economic resilience so we can stand tall on our own two feet.

We cannot continue to outsource vital manufacturing and processing capability at the expense of local industries, leaving us exposed to international shocks and supply chain disruptions.

At a time of huge disruption in the global energy market, our abundance of renewable energy provides a real opportunity to be more independent, more secure, and more competitive.

Trade is vital to New Zealand, but everyone needs to enjoy the benefits. That means maintaining a focus on local jobs, local businesses and local industries.

Stand up for human rights and international law

The ironic thing about having an independent foreign policy is that we can’t do it alone.

Climate change, pandemics, conflict, migration and technological disruption do not stop at borders.

A small country in a world without international law, human rights, and the institutions that uphold them would have very few options indeed.

We are committed to the Paris Agreement, the Antarctic Treaty, and scientific cooperation.

The UN, the WTO, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court aren’t perfect.

But imperfection is a reason to reform them, not to abandon them.

We should continue advocating for stronger and more effective institutions.

But we must be realistic.

Multilateral institutions alone cannot deliver everything we need in the current environment.

That means deepening bilateral relationships, and building stronger partnerships with like-minded countries that are emerging as the world changes.

We can strengthen and revitalise our relationships with traditional partners such as the UK, Canada and the EU, while developing our more recent ones with Japan, South Korea and India. 

The future belongs increasingly to coalitions working together to solve practical problems and New Zealand should be active in building them.

Above all, we must apply our values consistently.

Human rights do not become less important depending on who is violating them.

International law does not change depending on whether we are friend or foe.

If we believe in the rules, we have to believe in them when it’s difficult.

That consistency is credibility, and for a small country, credibility is among our greatest assets.

It is why New Zealand has long been trusted as an honest broker.

We have championed small states, disarmament, open trade and climate justice, and we said no to the invasion of Iraq.

That reputation has opened doors and served us well.

My government will restore it as a defining feature of how New Zealand engages with the world.

Security in a harder world

Can New Zealand keep itself safe in a harder world, and remain independent and nuclear-free while doing so?

I believe it can. But only if we are clear-eyed about the threats, and disciplined about how we meet them.

That starts with purpose. Our defence force exists first and foremost to defend New Zealand and our interests in the region.

It protects a vast maritime domain and supports our Pacific neighbours. It responds when disaster strikes.

It also lets us contribute further afield when our values and interests require it, as it has in helping to train Ukrainian soldiers.

Investment should follow purpose, not the other way around.

The question is not how much we spend in the abstract.

It is what capabilities we genuinely need to keep New Zealand and our region secure over the decades these investments will last.

That answer is changing fast. Drones, cyber, artificial intelligence and space-based systems are transforming both how security is threatened and how it is defended.

We should test every major decision against that reality.

We should also be willing to ask whether traditional platforms remain the best fit for a country of our size, in our region.

Wherever possible, that investment should build capability here at home, in our own industries, skills and supply chains.

But the best conflict is the one that never begins.

Diplomacy, peacebuilding, arms control and disarmament are not the soft end of security. They are among its most effective tools.

Our nuclear-free status remains part of who we are.

We will keep advocating for disarmament, non-proliferation and a nuclear-free Pacific.

I have said that a New Zealand I lead will not join AUKUS, because I do not believe it is in our interests.

But we will work with partners on the new frontiers of security, including artificial intelligence in weaponry and the militarisation of space.

This is not naïveté. For a country like ours, diplomacy, resilience and strong partnerships are the foundation to our security.

US and China

And we cannot be naïve to the shifting dynamics between two of the biggest powers in the world: China and the US.

The United States is one of our most important partners.

China is one of our most important partners.

New Zealand's interests are best served by maintaining positive, respectful relationships with both, while retaining the freedom to disagree with either or both when our values or interests require it.

I reject the idea that countries like New Zealand must choose between one relationship and another.

That is not independence and it is not in New Zealand's interests.

Speaking up

But New Zealand has never been at its best when it stayed quiet. So let me be clear about where we stand.

We will continue to support Ukraine in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We will advocate for the peaceful resolution of conflicts and disputes.

We believe the time has come for New Zealand to recognise the State of Palestine.

We will continue to speak out against violations of international law, including those committed by the Israeli Government.

We will uphold human rights consistently, without fear or favour.

We will support humanitarian relief and the agencies that deliver it.

And we will back international law and its institutions, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

For small countries, a world governed by rules will always be better than a world governed by power alone.

Closing

New Zealand has never succeeded by trying to be something we are not.

Our strength has always come from our independence, our adaptability, our creativity, and our willingness to stand up for what we believe.

The world is changing, and the old assumptions are being tested. But New Zealand's response will not be fear.

It will be a New Zealand that is open to the world and resilient at home.

We will cooperate widely while keeping our national interest at the heart of every decision.

We will open doors for our exporters and build the industries of the future.

We will stand up for international law and human rights.

And we will invest in the peace and security of our home and our neighbourhood.

Our vision is of a New Zealand that doesn't merely navigate a changing world, but thrives in it.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Thank you.