Obituaries — Mikhail Gorbachev

I seek leave to move a motion without notice to mark the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev.

💬 SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House acknowledges the passing of the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose leadership was instrumental in peacefully ending the Cold War and promoting disarmament and democracy.

Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the 20th century’s most notable leaders and politicians. As General Secretary and as President, Mr Gorbachev brought strategic ambition and courage to his vision for the Soviet Union.

Mr Gorbachev came to power in 1985. At 54 he was seen as a young man in the role, and he followed a succession of elderly and fragile leaders. The Soviet economy was stagnant, and in 1984 he is reported to have said to his future Foreign Minister, “We cannot live this way any longer.” His policies of perestroika and glasnost to reform the USSR economy and society were radical in their attempts to reform the communist system. Mr Gorbachev was a man of purpose, determination, and resilience. The UN Secretary António Guterres has hailed Mr Gorbachev as having done more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War.

Mr Gorbachev also faced significant foreign policy challenges, perhaps none greater than the threat of nuclear weapons. In his initial months in power, Gorbachev announced a unilateral freeze on deploying intermediate range missiles in Europe. Through engagement and dialogue, and with US President Reagan as a partner, he offered a different view of the world’s future, amplified by this statement, “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” Gorbachev’s relentless efforts on nuclear disarmament and arms control reminds us of what is possible and can be achieved, even in times of conflict and heightened tensions. Mr Gorbachev understood the counterbalance required to preserve stability.

I want to be clear: the promise of reform under Mr Gorbachev does not match the realities of what we are seeing in Russia today. The New Zealand Government continues to condemn Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. This is a breach of international law where innocent lives are being lost.

As we mark the passing of Mr Gorbachev, it is concerning to see Russia ignoring the lessons of his legacy, including a new threat of nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. With this in mind, it’s fitting to end with Mr Gorbachev’s own words: “There will be no winner in a war of all against all, particularly if it ends in a nuclear war. Faced with this dire threat to peace, we are not helpless. We must not resign. We must not surrender”.

Nō reira, e te tōtara haemata, e moe, e okioki, haere atu rā, Pai Mārire.

[And so to the great leader, rest in peace, Pai Mārire.]

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

I rise on behalf of the National Party to join the Government in passing this motion today. As time goes on, there’ll be fewer and fewer in parliaments like this who will remember the uncertainty and the fear that the words and images of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War conveyed. In the stand-off environment between the Soviet Union and the US, that fear was fuelled by an arms race that saw the development and installation of some 63,000 nuclear warheads equally divided between those two countries. It had to end at some point, and although Mikhail Gorbachev rose to the leadership of the USSR committed to the Marxist-Leninist communist system, he was clearly a man of vision and peaceful intention. Post the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Gorbachev saw the need for change and introduced the words “glasnost”—openness—and “perestroika”—reconstruction—to the international vocabulary.

On the world stage, he exuded a comforting warmth. That was his personal style—the man who was telling the world that he wanted better for his people. It was this positioning that significantly reduced the fear and suspicion of those Cold War years. He embarked on summits with President Reagan of the United States to limit nuclear weapons and to end the Cold War. He ended the long Soviet-Afghanistan war, and he encouraged freer speech and democratised the Duma in his own country.

He was not, though, without his critics. Some say he went too far too quickly, and that led to the destruction of the Soviet Union. Post 1990 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, many Soviet states reclaimed their individual nationhood, and they thrive today. But despite his critics, he survived coup attempts, and I think that shows his vision was shared by many who were around him at the time.

His award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 was much deserved, and served as an acknowledgment of the new and more peaceful world order his leadership ushered in. In the 30 years since his leadership concluded, it’s an open question as to how well the legacy of glasnost and perestroika have served to the benefit of the Russian people. Without commenting on the current political leadership in Russia but concurring with the thoughts expressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I think it’s fair to say that Mikhail Gorbachev does leave a legacy as one of the great positive influences of the 20th century—a legacy and a vision that may well better serve the Russian people today.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Today, we acknowledge the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev, a significant 20th century leader with a complicated legacy. As politicians, this is perhaps a reminder to us all that our actions will continue to be judged throughout our lives and beyond. Iran’s biggest land-bordering neighbour during my childhood there was the USSR. I remember his as the cat because “gorbe” means cat in Farsi and there were endless jokes about that.

But I also remember the refugees fleeing oppression across the border and the nation States that formed and were dismantled. This was a man who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping bring an end to the Cold War and who reduced the threat of nuclear warfare to all civilisation. He also, I found out today, [Audio issue] Green Cross International. But I do want to acknowledge that while the end of the USSR enabled many countries to achieve some level of democracy and self-determination, it was also followed by significant hardship and regional turmoil. Terrible conflicts came in its wake. I want to acknowledge Chechnya and its people. I also want to acknowledge the people of Central and South America who experienced interference. The wounds of that time remain fresh for many across the world especially in that region, and that can’t be forgotten.

While New Zealand continues our proud history of advocating against nuclear armament, honouring the legacy that we say belongs to Gorbachev would mean that we stand as an independent, principled voice on the global stage today. It would mean refusing to recourse into old Cold War allegiances. It would mean scrutinising our allegiances to Five Eyes. It would mean scrutinising opaque military agreements that we enter into in the Pacific either on the side of the US or against China. We must call out our friends and allies for human rights breaches. We must commit to sustained cooperation and commitment across the political world as we advocate for peace and for solutions to the greatest global crisis of our time: the climate crisis.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party to acknowledge the passing of the great Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Mr Gorbachev showed extraordinary leadership and increased human freedoms for hundreds of millions of people living in the former Soviet Union. His actions reunified a divided Germany, removed the Iron Curtain that divided Europe after the Second World War, and brought the Cold War to an end peacefully. He is one of the great leaders of the 20th century.

He is a man who chose peace, cooperation, and democracy and sought a better life for the people in the Soviet Union. He was a leader who saw the dignity of individuals over the group, and I wish to quote him directly. He said, “In the name of Communism we abandoned basic human values. So when I came to power in Russia, I started to restore those values; values of openness and freedom.” He did so by embracing democratic reform and gave freedoms to millions of individuals by introducing key political and economic reforms to the Soviet Union, with the first being glasnost—transparency and openness—by allowing ordinary citizens to openly criticise the State, ending official censorship, publishing banned literature, and by helping to kick start independent journalism; and perestroika—the liberalisation of the economy and trade—allowing for more open and foreign trade.

Like many New Zealanders today, the Soviet Union fell before I was born. But Mikhail Gorbachev’s legacy is relevant more than ever today, with this striving for democracy and openness, as we see the current Russian leader turn to conflict over cooperation and restrict freedoms of speech, the media, and freedoms of association.

Mr Gorbachev said, “My life’s work has been accomplished. I did all that I could.” However, we must continue to strive for democracy, for open Government, transparency, international rules-based order, cooperation, and upholding the rights and dignities of all people.

The ACT Party calls on the Russian Government to honour his legacy by withdrawing from Ukraine. Once again, we acknowledge the great life and contribution of Mikhail Gorbachev to democracy, freedom, and transparent Government and we want to share our condolences with his family.

Motion agreed to.