Contents of the United States diplomatic cables leak (New Zealand)

New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy of the 1980s was partly motivated by economic considerations. A 2004 diplomatic cable reports, "officials who were in senior positions in the Lange government at the time the anti-nuclear policy was instituted that one of the considerations favouring the policy was that it would lead to New Zealand withdrawing or being pushed out of Anzus, thereby lessening the country's defence-spending requirements at a time of fiscal and economic crisis".

In 2005, then-U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand Charles Swindells, sought to have New Zealand reverse its anti-nuclear stance, which was formalised in 1987 by New Zealand's legal prohibition on the entry into New Zealand waters of nuclear-armed or -propelled ships, and urged his colleagues in the U.S. to investigate strategies for changing the policy, including proposing a feasibility study for a free-trade agreement between New Zealand and the U.S.

According to the cables, full collaboration between the intelligence agencies of the U.S. and New Zealand – curtailed by the U.S. in the 1980s because of New Zealand's anti-nuclear policies – were resumed in August 2009, something both governments kept secret.

The U.S. Ambassador had concerns that the anti-nuclear legislation had eroded trust in New Zealand, thereby threatening intelligence cooperation. He was reacting to a New Zealand newspaper article which stressed the Ambassador's concern that if New Zealand were expelled from the "five-eyes" arrangement, the door would be opened for the United States to conduct intelligence gathering operations against the Kiwis. The Star-Times labelled the then Ambassador's language "a clear threat" and "bully tactics," even though the language used made clear that the Ambassador was raising a potential concern and did not know whether the aftermath of the anti-nuclear flap would result in expulsion of New Zealand from the SIGINT community.

The diplomatic cables leak reveal that the New Zealand government was spying on the military of nearby Fiji leading up to the 2006 Fijian coup d'état. Information obtained was passed on to the U.S. The cable did not contain the information that was gathered.

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