United Future.

• Position: ELECTION 2005 - Political party

United Future's foreign policy goals are threefold:

* to ensure that as an independent and free nation New Zealand strongly supports and defends democratic and human rights

* to continue to support and encourage free trade and fair access to the markets on which our economic future depends

* to recognise that the defence of the nation is the fundamental responsibility of any government.

United Future will seek to ensure that New Zealand continues to work with the international community through multilateral forums like the United Nations, the Commonwealth and regional groupings to achieve its goals. We will also ensure that the New Zealand Defence Force is maintained at a level sufficient for New Zealand forces to operate effectively with our friends and allies in maintaining peace and stability in our region and to contribute to international peacekeeping and monitoring activities.

New Zealand faces many foreign policy challenges over the next few years. In particular, the state of regional Pacific security is a growing concern. There is a pattern emerging of island states embroiled in civil conflict, corruption, failing economies, rapidly deteriorating infrastructures and seemingly irreconcilable political deadlock.

This has already necessitated intervention by New Zealand, Australia and other states in East Timor, the Solomons and Papua New Guinea. New Zealand has made an important contribution towards those efforts, as well as to the wider war against terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and other world trouble spots. It is, however, a role New Zealand cannot continuously play. The size of our defence resources simply prevents that.

United Future therefore believes an ANZAC force that would see the combined use of both Australia and New Zealand's defence resources is the logical and most effective way of maintaining and contributing to the security of our region.

It is fashionable to cite the declining state of our defence forces as evidence of a lack of commitment by New Zealand to regional and international security. The issue is, of course, far deeper than that. While Australia and New Zealand will always have political differences as two sovereign nations, the reality remains that there are probably no two countries on earth that are closer in so many ways.

Neither has the capacity to defend itself alone. United Future's proposal simply recognises this reality and argues for New Zealand and Australia to formalise the increasing...