The government will explore joining a defence pact signed between Australia and Fiji, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed on Monday, saying engagement with both countries on the agreement "is logical" RNZ.

The pact, known as the Ocean of Peace Alliance and also called the Veitacini Treaty, was signed in Fiji on Monday DFAT. It commits Australia and Fiji to "cooperate and consult" and to "act to meet common danger" RNZ. Australian ministers have described it as a mutual defence treaty. Luxon said the agreement meant Fiji and Australia had committed to becoming military allies, a development he said New Zealand welcomed.

The Beehive released a formal statement confirming Wellington's interest in exploring membership Beehive. No decision has been made. Cabinet has yet to approve any move to join. Officials will now hold discussions with Canberra and Suva about what membership might involve.

Luxon argued there was a strategic advantage to joining early rather than waiting. By joining now, he said, "would be a good thing" because it would give Wellington a say over which other Pacific states are subsequently admitted. The treaty allows other Pacific nations to join, but only with the agreement of both Australia and Fiji — meaning New Zealand's influence over future membership is strongest if it joins first rather than applying later.

Defence Minister Chris Penk placed the move within New Zealand's existing approach, saying Wellington remains committed to closer defence and security cooperation with Fiji separately from the question of formal alliance membership.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters linked the timing to a Chinese ballistic missile test conducted in the South Pacific shortly after the Fiji signing. Peters said the launch was "at odds with the spirit and intent of the Blue Pacific Ocean of Peace" — using the alliance's own language to critique Beijing's actions. He stressed continuity rather than departure, noting Pacific leaders have operated for decades on the principle of Pacific-led responses to regional security, and said the new alliance underscores that approach.

The sequence of events is worth laying out clearly: Australia and Fiji signed their bilateral treaty on Monday. China's missile test followed shortly after. Peters's statement responded using the alliance's framing. And Luxon's confirmation came the same day the Beehive published its release. Officials will now work through what obligations — cooperation, consultation duties, and the "common danger" clause in particular — a New Zealand accession would create, given the country's longstanding preference for multilateral Pacific forums like the Pacific Islands Forum over bilateral defence agreements with binding mutual-defence language.

This is where the question gets genuinely complex for anyone familiar with New Zealand's defence settings. Wellington has traditionally kept some distance from formal alliance structures beyond ANZUS arrangements and Five Eyes intelligence sharing, preferring the flexibility of bilateral defence agreements and Pacific-wide security declarations. A "common danger" clause—which obliges signatories to act in response to threats to any member—sits closer to classical mutual-defence treaty language than anything New Zealand has signed in the Pacific before. Whether Cabinet is prepared to accept that kind of binding commitment, or whether it will seek a lesser form of association short of full membership, is the key question officials must resolve.

The China dimension adds another layer. Peters's decision to invoke the Ocean of Peace framing directly against Beijing's missile test shows that the alliance's language is already being used as a yardstick for acceptable regional conduct, even before New Zealand has decided whether to join. If Wellington does join, it would be doing so partly in response to, or at least alongside, heightened South Pacific tension involving a strategic competitor — a context that will shape how the negotiations are read regionally, whatever the final agreement looks like.

No timeline has been set for when Cabinet might decide. The Beehive statement leaves the door open on scope, meaning New Zealand's eventual role — full alliance member, associate, or something else — remains an open question pending further talks.