Military Neutrality — reset foreign policy

The Policy: TPM Military Neutrality Policy — February 2023 →

Pitched as a sovereign, Treaty-grounded break from Western military alliances, Te Pāti Māori's military neutrality policy would reorient Aotearoa New Zealand away from Five Eyes, AUKUS, and any future entanglements in "the wars of imperial powers" — repositioning the country as a peaceful, independent actor in the Pacific.

What it does

• Declares military neutrality: Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer announced the policy in February 2023, framing it as "Rangatiratanga and Mana Māori Motuhake in action." Waititi stated: "Aotearoa must be militarily neutral, a Switzerland of the South Pacific."
• Withdraws from Five Eyes: The party pledges to end New Zealand's participation in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK, US), arguing New Zealand should no longer "act as a Pacific spy base." New Zealand has been a founding Five Eyes member since 1946.
• Opposes AUKUS involvement: Te Pāti Māori firmly opposes any New Zealand participation in the AUKUS security pact (announced September 2021), including the AUKUS Pillar Two technology-sharing component that some analysts and the current government have considered joining.
• Reorients defence force: The party would retain a defence force but redirect it toward Pacific humanitarian support and disaster response rather than offshore combat operations. Māori Party president John Tamihere argued spending should serve "the mana motuhake of the population," not foreign military campaigns.
• Rejects overseas military deployments: Te Pāti Māori MPs would vote against any overseas military support by New Zealand forces; the party has criticised past Māori participation in World Wars, Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, and Afghanistan as yielding little benefit for Māori communities.
• Grounded in historical critique: Sir Robert Bom Gillies, the last surviving member of the 28th Māori Battalion at time of the announcement, was cited in support of not sending future generations to war.
• Contrast with government direction: This policy sits in direct opposition to the National-led government's April 2025 Defence Capability Plan, which commits NZ$12 billion over four years, lifting defence spending from just over 1% of GDP to more than 2% — the highest since the early 1990s. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described the $12 billion as "the floor, not the ceiling." Te Pāti Māori's MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp characterised the spending as "a shocking waste" during a cost-of-living crisis.

The result

Te Pāti Māori entered the 2023 election winning six of seven Māori electorate seats and 3.08% of the party vote — a strong result for an opposition party. However, the National–ACT–NZ First coalition government formed without them, leaving this policy unimplemented. The military neutrality pledge remains a core opposition platform position. ACT Party leader David Seymour dismissed the party's defence credibility after Waititi described New Zealand's contribution to Ukraine as a "US proxy war." Former Defence Minister Andrew Little (Labour) also rejected neutrality as infeasible. An RNZ-Reid Research poll from March 2025 found 50.3% of New Zealanders support increased defence spending, with only 31.9% opposed — suggesting the broader public has not swung behind neutrality. ASPI analyst Steven Paget (Anglia Ruskin University) assessed the government's plan as a departure from New Zealand's historical "strategic apathy" and appropriate for "the most challenging and dangerous strategic environment for decades."

Some voices do support the concept. A North & South analysis (April 2025) noted that Switzerland spends less than 1% of GDP on defence while contributing 0.6% to international aid; New Zealand's aid spending is below 0.3%. The Alliance Party separately called in April 2026 for ending Five Eyes and ANZUS-era ties, arguing alignment with an erratic US presidency put New Zealand at risk.

The impacts to watch

• Alliance relationships: Exit from Five Eyes would end New Zealand's access to shared intelligence with the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The NZ Defence Capability Plan 2025 explicitly prioritises deeper Five Eyes integration and potential AUKUS Pillar Two entry; reversing this under any future Te Pāti Māori-aligned government would require major diplomatic re-calibration.
• Trade exposure: New Zealand's largest export markets include Australia, the US, China, and Japan. A neutrality stance could shield NZ from great-power economic rivalry but could also complicate preferential trading relationships tied to security alignment.
• Pacific role: Redirecting NZDF toward Pacific humanitarian and climate response aligns with the Pacific Islands Forum's stated priorities, and may strengthen New Zealand's standing with Pacific neighbours over purely defence-aligned postures.
• Domestic Māori voice: The policy reflects a specific Treaty-centred reading of foreign policy — that tangata whenua never ceded authority over decisions about war. Critics within the defence establishment argue this reading overstates the sovereignty implications; supporters see it as the logical extension of Treaty partnership principles into international affairs.

*Note: This policy touches on constitutional and Treaty-based questions about sovereignty. All positions above are stated as those of named parties; no editorial assessment of constitutional legitimacy is made here.*