A frigate sails to Mururoa
- When
- 28 June 1973
- Where
- Devonport Naval Base · Tāmaki Makaurau
- Reach
- Nationwide
Norman Kirk sent HMNZS Otago, with a cabinet minister aboard, to sit in the French nuclear test zone in protest.
New Zealand and Australia had already taken France to the International Court of Justice. Sending a naval vessel to bear witness was a deliberate act of state protest, and it was popular. France moved testing underground the following year. The episode is the origin of the anti-nuclear position that became law in 1987 and a core part of New Zealand’s foreign policy identity.
Regions affected
Sources
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Related
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