NZ keeps its ban on nuclear ships

Prime Minister Helen Clark is anxious to maintain the nuclear ban

New Zealand's parliament has strongly rejected an attempt to lift a 20-year-old ban on nuclear-powered ships visiting its ports.

The bill was defeated by 109 votes to nine on Wednesday night.

The lawmaker behind the bill said the rejection had "all but ruled out the prospect of New Zealand signing a free trade agreement with the US".

Relations between New Zealand and the US soured when the nuclear ban was first introduced in 1985.

When the legislation was passed, Washington immediately suspended military ties with Wellington, and no US navy ship - nuclear or otherwise - has since docked in New Zealand ports.

Ken Shirley, an MP from the small right-wing conservative party ACT, proposed the bill to lift the ban, saying it was harming New Zealand's ties with other nations.

"If parliament does not refer my bill to a select committee for further consideration, it will have passed a golden opportunity to throw out this relic from the Cold War era and restore our once strong relationship with the US," he is quoted as saying before the vote.

Principle stands

He added that the clause could be safely removed because no foreign warship could come to New Zealand without being invited by the government anyway.

But the other parties largely rejected the bill, and polls have shown that the public continues to back the nuclear-free stance of the governing Labour Party under Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Ms Clark has vowed to retain this policy if re-elected in the 17 September parliamentary elections, but she has accused her main opponent, Don Brash of the National Party, of planning to abolish it.

Mr Brash recently insisted he would not make any change to the nuclear ban without holding a referendum on the issue.