THR

Has there ever been any debate in NZ whether the ANZUS military-treaty you have with the US and Australia is useful for your country? You are very unlikely to face a threat of an attack from Russia, it is probably the Chinese and the Indonesians people in your part of the world are more concerned with. However, no offence intended, but NZ is probably the most remote country in the world. What is there worth attacking for so that you need to ally yourselves? Perhaps a lot of space and fresh air.

Similarly, do you really have faith in the US(or Australia) that they would come to your aid if things somehow really turned nasty?

We have a lot of similar debate about NATO in Finland and many people seriously doubt that if Finland were a member and attacked by Russia, the US would start a WW III for our sake.

Woodlea

No.

The main threat to NZ is insects and agricultural infections.

Sorry, I realise that you were trying to prompt a serious discussion, however no-one in NZ would be really interested. National security is not as important as a bronze medal at the Olly-limpics or keeping the Springboks score-less on their home turf!!

lapsed kiwi

I think the OP needs to check his NZ history. The ANZUS treaty was cancelled by the US in the mid to late 80s because NZ refused to allow port visits by US ships that were nuclear powered or possibly nuclear armed (it was cold war practice for US and UK not to disclose whether ships were carrying nuclear weapons at any particular time). This was at the start of the present "nuclear free" policy in NZ.
We do, however, have a close relationship with Aus and US and I feel reasonably confident that if NZ were under threat of invasion by say China or Indonesia then we would get assistance from these allies and from the UK. This is one of the reasons that NZ retains a Defence Force and pulls its weight in regional and international peace-keeping operations.