New Zealand and the world: Andrew Little outlines the Labour Party's approach to international affairs.

• Author: Little, Andrew

The international outlook is clouded with uncertainties. The world may be at one of those junctures in global history that come around every 30 years or so where the established order and political orthodoxies are overwhelmed by either their own shortcomings or deep-seated public disillusion, or both. The challenge for the world is how to build a global order where everyone has security--physical and economic--and where nobody is left out. The New Zealand Labour Party, now one hundred years old, has made major contributions to New Zealand's foreign policy, and to international affairs in our region and worldwide.

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The last few months have been some of the most tumultuous in international affairs for many years. Arguably the most dramatic was the decision of the British electorate to leave the European Union. The consequences of that decision are still being played out and will be for months and years to come. The US presidential race includes a candidate more polarising than any we have seen for more than 50 years. He has harnessed the resentment of people who feel marginalised and excluded from the economic and political system; and he is not the only political candidate to have done so.

Economically, many parts of the world are struggling to achieve pre-global financial crisis rates of growth, and this at a time when interest rates have never been lower, global trade ties have never been deeper and the movement of people never greater. I do not think it is too dramatic to state that we may be at one of those junctures in global history that come around every 30 years or so where the established order and political orthodoxies are overwhelmed by either their own shortcomings or deep-seated public disillusion, or both. I want to discuss Labours history in foreign policy, and our take on some of the current issues. But, most importantly, I want to refer to the global moment we inhabit today. It is a moment of uncertainty, of growing insecurity. It is a moment where more and more people feel left out.

The challenge for the world is how to build a global order where everyone has security--physical and economic--and where nobody is left out. And I want to talk about the international approach New Zealand should take to help achieve this.

Birth centenary

The New Zealand Labour party turned 100 in July. Over this past century, part of Labours defining achievements in office have been its contributions to New Zealand's foreign policy, and to international affairs in our region and worldwide. Our foreign policy has always been guided, and continues to be guided, by four core principles.

The first is independence. We believe New Zealand should always make its foreign policy decisions based on an independent assessment of the facts, and on our own views about what action best helps the New Zealand people, and what it will contribute to a just world order. It started with Peter Eraser who, learning the tragic lessons of the first World War, insisted on a New Zealand command for our troops serving in the Second World War. It continued through Norman Kirk, the first New Zealand prime minister to take to the world stage to protest nuclear tests in our region. And, most famously, it was David Lange who declared New Zealand the worlds first nuclear free country in the 1980s.

It is a real testament to the bipartisan nature of New Zealand's independence that our nuclear-free stance came to be supported by all sides of the political divide in New Zealand. Jim Bolger, Don McKinnon and Winston Peters deserve credit for their roles in managing New Zealand's international partnerships in the context of a decision some countries would rather we had not made. It is now fair to say our opposition to nuclear weapons has transcended from a 'streak', and it now stands as a core part of New Zealand's international identity. The next Labour government plans to redouble our efforts towards international agreements that further reduce nuclear stockpiles, as we strive for a world free from the constant threat of nuclear annihilation.

Our fierce...