New Zealand risks 'strategic nincompoop' status in the PacificCHRIS SKELTON/STUFF New Zealand and Australia have been pursuing "an incredibly peculiar deal" with Pacific nations in the form of PACER Plus. MONIQUE FORD/STUFF Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern must take a moral leadership on the Pacific, Cleo Paskal argues. SUPPLIED Uncomfortable questions are being asked about how well New Zealand is playing its role in the Pacific, says Pattrick Smellie. That being so, New Zealand and Australia's main strategic focus should be to keep the PICs focused on Australasia as their main source of regional security and support, Paskal argued. Instead, New Zealand and Australia have been pursuing "an incredibly peculiar deal" in the form of PACER Plus, for which there are "few, if any, good reasons" for PICs to sign.

Source: Stuff February 28, 2018 15:56 UTC