Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Clark blames ‘anti-vax vote’ as NZ abstains on UN pandemic declaration

foreign minister winston peters at the united nations genera ER2GOFCRLBB3BFTBIGEQVEKOHM

New Zealand has declined to back a UN declaration welcoming the WHO Pandemic Agreement and the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations, after years of grassroots campaigning against both.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark called the abstention “humiliating for NZ,” saying it “results from NZ 1st’s courting of the anti-vax vote.” Labour leader Chris Hipkins described it as “an embarrassment to New Zealand”.

At the UN General Assembly, 153 member states voted for the non-binding Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response. The US, Israel and Argentina voted against, and New Zealand and Paraguay abstained.

MFAT said New Zealand “does not support language welcoming the adoption of the Pandemic Agreement” and has rejected the 2024 IHR amendments. Any decision on signing the agreement will be informed by a full National Interest Test.

The decision was Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ to make. National MP Matt Doocey told Newsroom that National ministers supported voting for the declaration, but Cabinet approval was not required. Peters said NZ First “ensured the National Interest Test was included in the coalition agreement to keep our sovereign decision-making with New Zealand, not Geneva”.

RCR has published over 100 interviews and articles on the WHO instruments. VFF’s head of legal, Katie Ashby-Koppens, has presented to the New Zealand, Australian and US governments. VFF says that campaigning helped make the treaties an election issue in 2023, leading to the coalition’s National Interest Test commitment.

“For all those who think their voices don’t matter… They do,” said VFF and RCR co-founder Alia Bland. “With the 2026 election approaching, the make-up of the next Parliament will shape what happens next”, she said.

This story has been republished with permission from RCR Bites. For news like this direct and free to your Inbox every day, go to biteme.news to sign up for RCR Bites.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. Good on you Winston. Clark and Hipkins and their ilk all need to be arrested for treason. Why Hipkins isn’t in Prison for wilfully endangering hundreds of thousands of young New Zealanders is beyond me.

  2. The only real humiliating embarrassment for New Zealand is that Winston did not have the guts to vote against it, instead it seems he chose to sit on the fence.

  3. Imperialists/Communists verses Sovereigntists/Individualists.

    “Countries can and must do better, and work together with the urgency pandemic threats demand. This means finding a way through the impasse to agree to the PABS annex by May,” urged Helen Clark, co-chair of The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

    With Only Three ‘No’ Votes, UN Adopts Political Declaration on Pandemic Preparedness.
    https://healthpolicy-watch.news/un-adopts-political-declaration-on-pandemic-preparedness/

  4. The Left used cvd – probably behind the whole thing since all Western govts were Left at the time – as their chance to install Socialism. It didn’t work so now theyve joined up with the muslims and Western Jew haters to further their evil plans. So Helen and Chippy being pro vax says it all. As for Ardern, Biden, Trudeau, Macron, Albo, Von derleydon and the rest, theyve eaten their own tails. Islam is a vicious enemy, we’ve got our work cut out for us.

  5. Helen Clark is the chair of Gavi, the vaccine alliance, so no wonder she is angry. The woman shows her contempt for all those people who have died or are injured because of the covid gene therapy marketed as a vaccine. Kudos for Winston for his stance.

  6. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark called the abstention “humiliating for NZ,” saying it “results from NZ 1st’s courting of the anti-vax vote.” Labour leader Chris Hipkins described it as “an embarrassment to New Zealand”.

    Oh really Helen and Chris. Remind me again what happened to Labour after their Covid antics? If memory serves they scraped up 27% of the vote and were promptly turfed out of office by the public. What should that tell you both, if you were paying attention? Maybe that so called “anti-vaxxers” are not a minority after all. Maybe they are ordinary people like4 myself who believe they have the basic human right not to be coerced with job loss into taking an experimental vaccine and don’t feels its right they are excluded from society? Or for that matter get labelled an “anti-vaxxer”. By the way I have taken vaccines in the past but this one rang loud alarm bells and still does. Its a little thing called personal choice.

    In any case this is one of those rare occasions when we get to see representative democracy. May not mean much, probably wont if there’s another Covid side show. That said, if you don’t like it feel free to move to Australia-stan or UK-stan. I wont miss either of you!

  7. The “National Interest Test” will provide whatever result the fake democracy uni-party decides the result will be – just like their “Royal” Commissions. Fake procedures for a fake democracy.

  8. What a choice this election. One side a bunch of sellouts on trade deals, big pharma, GMO’s, deepening ties with US military and on the other, another bunch of sellouts to carbon trading, the WHO, big pharma, apartied politics.

    We are so ……

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