Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has raised serious concerns about New Zealand’s continued membership in the Five Eyes intelligence network, warning that U.S. President Donald Trump’s appointees may not be trusted with sensitive intelligence.

Her controversial remarks highlight a stark contrast between modern New Zealand’s approach to global alliances and the country’s historical role as a committed Western partner in the intelligence-sharing pact established after World War II.

Speaking on Q+A, Clark claimed Five Eyes — comprising the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand — had moved beyond its original intelligence-sharing purpose and was now being used to coordinate political positions.

“There’s been some talk in the media that Trump might want to evict Canada from it… Please could we follow?” she said.

“I mean, really, the problem with Five Eyes now has become a basis for policy positioning on all sorts of things.

“You will recall that in my time as Prime Minister, and all the time leading up to that, it was never acknowledged that it even existed. It was an intelligence-sharing pool. It was never confirmed nor denied that it was even there.

“And to see it now as the basis for joint statements, finance minister meetings, this has got a bit out of control.”

How hysterical can the New Zealand legacy media and its lefty friends get over Donald Trump?

In a weekend Q and A interview, ex PM Helen Clark made the astonishing assertion that NZ would be “out of their mind” to share intelligence information with the US. Now that Mr Trump was… pic.twitter.com/2FHHCkXaPI

— The Redbaiter (@TheRedbaiter) March 3, 2025

However, Clark’s strongest criticism was reserved for Trump’s administration and the figures he had appointed to powerful roles, questioning whether they could be trusted with classified intelligence.

New Zealand, which once stood shoulder to shoulder with its Western allies, is now showing open scepticism toward the leadership of its most powerful Five Eyes partner.

Clark, a long-time advocate of an “independent foreign policy,” also pushed back against U.S. pressure to raise defence spending to 2% of GDP.

“I don’t think so. And frankly notwithstanding the presence of three Chinese vessels in the Tasman Sea, we’re not under threat of invasion. Three ships is not exactly the Spanish Armada in the English Channel,” she said.

She described the Chinese naval presence as a “tit for tat” response to New Zealand and Australian military exercises near China and Taiwan.

I didn’t hear Helen Clark speak up for NZers, when NZ’s first ever Dictator locked citizens down illegally for months, locked citizens out of NZ illegally, and forced our population to get an experimental vaccine.

Helen Clark is a washed up supporter of left wing dictators. https://t.co/y2MbOhDZQX

— 0pinionistNZ (@OpinionistNZ) January 27, 2025

“Now the Chinese are coming and sailing around our backyard in the Tasman Sea. Now the Prime Minister says he wants to send a frigate up to the South China Sea. I mean, why are we buying into this fight?”

Clark argued that New Zealand should prioritise diplomacy and humanitarian aid in the Pacific rather than increasing military capability, given the country’s defence forces would always be “minuscule, and not frighten off anyone."

Clark’s remarks reflect a growing divide between New Zealand and its traditional Western allies, with her distrust of Trump’s administration marking yet another step away from the country’s historical commitment to shared Western security.

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