Zimbabwe Tour - Time for Helen Clark to Step in…

Foreign Minister Phil Goff’s talk of the New Zealand cricketers wearing black armbands when they tour Zimbabwe signals the end of his efforts to stop the tour.

This is unacceptable when there are many steps the government can still take such as issuing a formal request to New Zealand cricket to cancel the tour.

We know Phil Goff has had extensive discussions with Martin Snedden from New Zealand Cricket and has told him the government does not want the tour to proceed. However this is well short of a formal request to New Zealand Cricket by the government for this tour to be abandoned.

This would be best done with Helen Clark meeting with the full council of New Zealand Cricket and making a formal request on behalf of the government and people of New Zealand.

This formal request would point out the similarities in the situation of the 1976 All Blacks who toured South Africa entertaining whites while black school children were being murdered in the streets of Soweto. For New Zealand cricketers to play to Mugabe and his vicious militias while tens of thousands are being bulldozed from their homes is an appalling prospect…

Helen Clark would point out that this tour is unacceptable to New Zealanders and not in our national interests.

This would be a good first step for the government to take…

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