Why this group formed

The present anti-nuclear groups are based on ecological factors. Canwar, as a Wellington based group opposes an ecological threat which exists for political reasons.

Its aims are broad in that they are concerned with the political implications of growing U.S. control over N.Z. foreign policy and narrow in that they are concerned solely with warships rather than land based reactors.

The warships are regarded as a greater threat both because of the dangers of an accident resulting from their mobility and because they carry nuclear weaponry.

Canwar believes that the Anzus alliance with the U.S. and Australia does not oblige us to have foreign ships in our country. The treaty signed in 1951 states that all parties "will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack". In 1971 a Liberal Australian government banned visits by all nuclear ships. It was only on the 4th June 1976 that they agreed to have them back.

Canwar also questions the government's new safety code for nuclear ships. Firstly this code makes no mention of the presence of nuclear weapons on the ships, secondly although a nuclear warship is quite safe if there is no accident, the chances of such an accident are greater than with a land reactor. There is a greater possibility of leakages of radioactivity into the air and water.

The original code of 1971 drawn up by the N.Z. Atomic energy commission, despite a lack of clarity on some points did detail potential risks - for example contamination of food and milk - and recommended certain safety precautions - e.g. first aid stations with iodine tablets. It also declared that a nuclear accident could happen at any time. The compilers of the code felt it would be unwise for the recommended safety procedures to be made public. The new code seems little more than a political gimmick to ally the quite just fears arising out of the 1971 code.

Any morning now, Wellingtonians may wake up to an American nuclear powered, nuclear-armed warship bobbing gently in the early morning tide. The scene will be peaceful enough - the underlying political realities are not.

If this happened New Zealand will have been drawn one step deeper into the American alliance. The present Government's reversal of New Zealand support of a nuclear-free zone in the Pacific will have become reality. New Zealand will be a target for Soviet nuclear missiles. And this will happen unless we, the ordinary people of New Zealand, do not put a stop to this political madness.