Greens Māori MP Teanau Tuiono today launched a member’s bill calling on the government to stop letting US-owned Rocket Lab launch US military technology from the Mahia Peninsula, following concerns from locals who live near the site.
The Green Party’s security and intelligence spokesperson launched his bill at the “Stop militarisation” protest today outside Rocket Lab’s headquarters in Tāmaki Makaurau.
The bill, if it is drawn from the ballot, would amend the Outer Space and High altitude Activities Act and prohibit the launching of military hardware into space from Aotearoa New Zealand.
“This change would ensure that Aotearoa New Zealand’s space industry and its facilities could never be used by military actors to launch weaponry, establishing in legislation an enduring commitment to peaceful conduct in outer space,” Tuiono says.
“The government has a responsibility to make sure technologies sent into orbit from New Zealand soil do not assist other countries' armies to wage war.
“Unfortunately our outer space legislation has so many gaps and grey areas, foreign military powers are literally launching rockets through it.”
None vetoed yet
Tuiono says the Outer Space and High-Altitude Activities Act allows the minister to veto a satellite if it is not in the national interest. However, launches from Mahia have carried at least 13 payloads for US military or intelligence agencies.
“They range from US Special Operations Command, which conducts covert operations around the world, to the launch of Gunsmoke-J in March this year on behalf of the US Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, which was designed to improve US missile targeting capabilities during combat.
“We are also very conscious of the impact successive rocket launches have on the whenua and moana of Mahia.
“When we visited Mahia the whānau told us about the absence of local birds and kaimoana and we continue to support the call from whānau for independent cultural and environmental impact assessments."