Keith Locke, who died in June 2024, aged 80, was an absolute titan of the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) and specifically (but definitely not exclusively) of its decades-long campaign to expose and close the Waihopai spy base. Keith was a regular speaker and participant at ABC's Waihopai protests throughout the 12 years that he was a Green MP, from 1999 to 2011. Of course, he was not alone - ABC has had an excellent working relationship with the Greens throughout its existence.

These are the Party Co-Leaders who have come to Waihopai protests: Rod Donald (a regular, until his untimely death*), Jeanette Fitzsimons*, Russel Norman, Metiria Turei and Marama Davidson. Other Green MPs to have taken part have included Steffan Browning, Golriz Ghahrahman and Teanau Tuiono. *My obituary of Rod is in Watchdog 110, December 2005, Jeanette Fitzsimons' obituary, by Catherine Delahunty and myself, is in Watchdog 154, August 2020

Central Figure At Waihopai Protests For Decades

Keith was an absolutely central figure at every Waihopai protest during his time in Parliament. Long before that, he joined ABC's protests at the spy base before it was even built, in the late 80s. Decades later he still proudly wore his "No Spy Waihopai. Stop The Base" T shirt. He came and spoke at Waihopai demos as, firstly, the Alliance spokesperson for the few years that the Greens were in the Alliance; after that he spoke on behalf of the Greens. And he did so for decades, when he was an MP, before he was an MP and after he was an MP. He was the longest-serving Greens participant at ABC's Waihopai protests.

For years he came in tandem with the late Rod Donald, and also with a whole raft of other Green MPs and Co-Leaders. Keith was an invaluable rock of the Anti-Bases Campaign and, as usually the only MP with any sustained interest in the subject, let alone an informed and progressive interest, he added a whole different dimension to our campaign.

He and Michele Donovan, his partner for 40 plus years, were always welcome guests at ABC's camp, usually turning up in their rental car with some much-appreciated food and drink (fish and chips and wine) for the after-match function. Keith's last Waihopai protest was in 2018 and he was a keynote speaker at an accompanying Blenheim public meeting. By that stage he had the serious health problems - a vicious double whammy of cancer and Parkinson's disease - that were to kill him. That was the last time I saw him.

Keith's active involvement spanned decades of the Anti-Bases Campaign (of which he was an actual member from 2003 until his death). For example, he came on the 1990 Touching The Bases Tour, a week-long activity with international participants. It started at the Tangimoana spy base in the lower North Island and worked south via a tour of secret Wellington and then on to the South Island and the Waihopai spy base, a mountain climb (in spring snow) to the former US Navy observatory at Black Birch, and finished at the US military transport and logistics base at Christchurch Airport.

Nearly 30 years later he wrote the lead article - "NZ Creeping More Into The Embrace Of The US Military" - for Peace Researcher (PR) 56, November 2018, His conclusion in that article is even more relevant today: "I'm not saying we should go the other way and back China against the United States, particularly as China has many faults and is a one-party State".

"However, on several issues, including support for the UN, action on climate change, the Iranian nuclear deal, trade, Palestinian issues, the peaceful resolution of disputes, opposition to Western intervention in the Middle East, China's stance is better than that of America. Surely, New Zealand would be better off with a truly independent foreign policy, taking a more 'non-aligned' stance in relation to the stand-off between the US and China, working with each power on the merits of each situation, and helping to mediate conflicts where necessary".

Keith was also a member of CAFCA, from 2000 until his death. Keith didn't merely express his support for ABC and CAFCA by paying his subs, and turning up at Waihopai protests. For many years, up until his death, he was one of the people regularly pledging money to the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account that provides my income as the Organiser for both groups.

SIS Spied On Him For 50 Years, Including As MP

I had less to do with Keith in my CAFCA capacity, with one notable exception. At the end of the first decade of this century, Keith, CAFCA, Bill Rosenberg and myself were among those who successfully applied for our files from the Security Intelligence Service (SIS). As an MP, Keith's file was the highest profile one, particularly as it revealed that the SIS spied on him whilst he was in Parliament which, quite rightly, led to uproar. I well remember him coming to our Christchurch home and sitting down with Bill and myself whilst going through his file, line by line, to eliminate anything he deemed too personal for the media.

Here's the relevant extract from my article "SIS Spied On CAFCA For Quarter Of A Century" in Watchdog 120, May 2009, subsection "Spying On MPs A Step Too Far" "The most high-profile and controversial Personal File to have been released is that of Keith Locke (as the children of Jack and Elsie Locke, veteran communists and activists, Keith and his sister Maire Leadbeater had been the subject of SIS Personal Files since their childhood and onwards for 50 years)".

"The most controversial aspect of Keith's file was that the last entry was as recently as 2006, seven years after he was elected to Parliament as a Green MP. The SIS took a close interest in his meetings, as an MP, with members of NZ's Tamil community and a factfinding trip that he made to war torn Sri Lanka earlier this decade" (i.e. the noughties. MH).

"Keith made the point that the SIS was spying on meetings that he was holding with his constituents. Unlike me, and others, Keith hasn't received an assurance from (then SIS Director Warren) Tucker that the SIS has stopped spying on him; nor (unlike me) has he received an assurance from Tucker that '...you have never encouraged unlawful activity such as sabotage, subversion or terrorism...'".

"Spying on 'old Lefties' (Tucker's phrase) is one thing, but spying on a sitting MP is quite another. The revelation led to uproar in Parliament, the media and among the public. (Then Prime Minister) John Key, as Minister in Charge of the SIS, ordered Paul Neazor, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, to investigate. He produced an unusually speedy report recommending that the SIS should not spy on MPs, but gave the spies a great big escape clause by saying that if they have to it should be cleared with the Speaker (a member of the governing Party)".

"Neazor also dipped his toe into the broader issue of the SIS files and said: 'Historically, because of the extensive cross-referencing system, when a Personal File existed, information from any source about that person could find its way to the file. It could produce a vacuum cleaner approach to collecting' (Press, 18/3/09; "Watchdog Slates Scale Of SIS Files", Mike Houlahan). So, that's where all us 'old Lefties' et al are - we've been sucked up into the dustbag of (the SIS version of) history".

A decade later, I wrote another Watchdog article, titled "SIS Spied On Keith Locke For 50 Years" (issue 150, April 2019). "The SIS Personal Files released a decade ago came complete with handwritten opinionated notes on them. Here's another quote from my same 2009 Watchdog article: 'One of the last entries in the Personal File of Keith Locke MP is the handwritten word 'Eeeexcellent!' accompanying a selection of letters critical of Keith published in various papers in very recent years'".

"Paul Neazor, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, wrote, in his March 2009 report on Keith's complaint about the SIS spying on him as an MP: 'Mr Locke suggested that some at least of this material might have been gathered because of his critical stance in Parliament on intelligence issues. All I can say is that one notation which could have given that impression was certainly unprofessional and ought not to have appeared on a file of a neutral intelligence service'. I would like to hear the SIS' definition of neutrality".

SIS & GCSB Labelled Him A "Threat"

This wasn't the end of Keith's dealings with the SIS. Watchdog 150 (April 2019) also included an article by Keith himself, titled "SIS Apologised To Former MP For Labelling Him A 'Threat'" (it was originally published in the Spinoff and reprinted with permission). "In April 2018 I received a letter from Rebecca Kitteridge, the Director of the Security Intelligence Service, apologising for the way I was referred to in internal SIS documents".

"She wrote that I had been described as a 'threat' in speaking notes for a Joint Induction Programme run by the SIS and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) since 2013. In the SIS documents I was identified as an 'internal' threat because I 'wish[ed] to see the NZSIS & GCSB abolished or greatly modified'. The documents labelled this a 'syndrome'".

"In her apology, Ms Kitteridge said 'the talking point suggests wrongly that being a vocal critic of the agencies means you are a 'threat*' or a 'syndrome'. In fact, people who criticise the agencies publicly are exercising their right to freedom of expression and protest, which are rights we uphold, and are enshrined in the Intelligence and Security Act 2017'". * Hilariously, Director Kitteridge's letter of apology to Keith admitted that the relevant document misspelled "threat" as "treat". So, the SIS and GCSB branded Keith as a treat to national security. Ed.

"I haven't gone public on this until now, but given the recent news about several other State agencies spying on people, I decided that what happened to me should be in the public domain. In his December 2018 report (into the use of private spy company, Thompson and Clark, by various State agencies), State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes described the State spying on critics of deep-sea oil drilling, like Greenpeace, 'an affront to democracy'".

"Like Ms Kitteridge, in her letter of apology to me, Hughes said that it was 'never acceptable for an agency to undertake targeted surveillance of a person just because they are lawfully exercising their democratic rights, including their right to freedom of expression, association and right to protest'. Most disturbing, in the cases Hughes identified, is that many civil servants must have known about this illegal, anti-democratic surveillance without blowing a whistle on it. In my case, many SIS and GCSB officers must have heard me being identified as a 'threat' without challenging it".

"How else could the disparaging reference to me have stayed in the officer training material for ten years? Ms Kitteridge told me the 'threat' label was carried over into the Joint Induction Programme speaking note from a 'Protective Security Advice presentation (believed to have been developed in about 2008)'' and 'a historical security aide-memoire (believed to have been developed in 2012)'".

"To make matters worse, the ten-year period when I was deemed to be a 'threat' includes the last three years (2008-11) of my 12 years as a Member of Parliament. It appears the SIS learnt nothing from the public controversy, in early 2009, when it was revealed that the SIS had a file on me, which they were updating during my time as an MP, with material going up to 2006".

"This resulted in an inquiry by the then Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Paul Neazor, which found that 'a sitting MP because of his or her function and standing [is] not generally a subject for intelligence collection or surveillance'. This, in turn, led to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Speaker, the SIS and the Minister in Charge of the SIS, signed off in 2012, endorsing the Inspector-General's recommendations".

"This MOU also had a section on 'political neutrality' whereby the SIS 'does not take any action for the purpose of furthering or harming the interests of a political party'. Clearly the SIS and GCSB were acting in a politically biased manner by treating my Parliamentary critique of the intelligence agencies, delivered officially on behalf of the Green Party, as representing a 'threat'".

"It seemed pretty clear that the SIS had breached the MOU requirements for political neutrality, by treating a sitting MP and his views as a 'threat', so I wrote to the current Speaker, Trevor Mallard, about it. He didn't think the MOU had 'been breached in any way'. Mallard side-stepped my contention that the SIS had acted in a politically biased manner, but did admit that 'certain materials being used by the security agencies contained inappropriate expressions of opinion regarding your conduct, including during a time that you were a Member of Parliament'".

"He said he met regularly with the SIS Director 'and will continue to ensure that she is aware of the need for security agencies to respect the role and independence of Parliament'. I have to disagree with the Speaker that it was just a matter of the SIS using 'inappropriate' language. For a spy agency to describe someone as a 'threat' is serious. It identifies them as a target for some form of monitoring or surveillance, and this is what has happened to me over many years. When I got my SIS file, I found it ran for hundreds of pages, beginning in 1955 and ending in 2006".

"It is a case study in what is wrong with our intelligence agencies. No criminality is identified. I have no criminal record. The file is all about my legitimate political activities, mainly in international peace and justice campaigns (e.g. against apartheid and the Vietnam War), but also in the labour movement. My file illustrates the main function of the SIS over the years, which hasn't been to track down criminals (which the Police do quite well) but to spy on political dissenters".

CAFCA holds the SIS Personal Files of a number of people (including me), as well as the SIS file on CAFCA itself. Keith is one of those who asked the SIS for his file during the spy agency's glasnost moment at the end of this century's first decade, and then accepted CAFCA's invitation to entrust us with a copy of part of it. It forms one of the source materials for this obituary.

Philippines Solidarity Campaign Leader

I knew Keith before he was involved with either ABC or CAFCA. I first met and worked with him in the second half of the 80s, when the Philippines was the hot international issue (how cruelly ironic that today's Philippines President is Ferdinand Marcos Junior). Keith was the national coordinator of the Philippines solidarity movement. I made my first visit to that country in 1987.

I was one of the NZ delegates on the 1988/89 Asia Pacific International Peace Brigade (Keith's sister Maire Leadbeater was head of the NZ delegation). Although he didn't go on it, Keith slogged his guts out organising it. Throughout his five years heading the national solidarity movement, Keith took considerable flak from reactionaries and their media mouthpieces that it was all a "communist front".

I met my wife Becky during the Peace Brigade trip (she was on the staff of the conference which was part of it). I went back up to Manila for several months in 1991 and we got married there. Being good political activists, we timed the wedding to coincide with the Senate vote on whether to renew the treaty which had allowed the US to maintain its massive military bases in that country for nearly 100 years.

The progressive movement held a range of activities to coincide with the vote and Keith was one of the NZ delegates. So, he was also able to be one of the Kiwi guests at our wedding. And to cap it all off, the Senate voted to chuck the bases out. I was among the huge crowd outside the Senate, in the pouring rain, when the vote was taken.

I was the Secretary of the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA), from its foundation in the early 1990s until it wound up in the early 2020s. Throughout that whole 30-year period, Keith was an active and key member of PSNA. We ran several national speaking tours of NZ by leading progressive Filipino figures - Keith was involved in those. He was a regular donor. He arranged for PSNA to get a regular source of income, namely by handing over to us a bank account which he'd set up and which had three regular pledgers. It was a modest amount but it made all the difference for decades.

And Keith never forgot those Filipino movement leaders with whom he'd worked when he was head of the NZ solidarity movement. In July 2008, when he was a Green MP, he made a special trip to Christchurch to speak at PSNA's memorial gathering for our great mate Crispin Beltran (universally known as Ka Bel - Ka means "comrade"). Ka Bel had been the national leader of the militant union movement Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement); he'd been a Congressman and he'd been the Philippines' most high profile political prisoner. PSNA toured him through NZ in 1999 and Becky and I had the pleasure of hosting him when he was in Christchurch.

I was the Editor of PSNA's publication Kapatiran (Solidarity). Issue 31 (October 2008) was devoted to Ka Bel. Keith wrote: "I remember meeting him during the momentous day of September 16 1991, when the Senate of the Philippines annulled the Military Bases Agreement with the United States. I had been an international guest on the big peace demonstration outside the Senate building. I went inside the Senate building to follow the proceedings, and there was Crispin buzzing around doing his bit of last-minute lobbying. His was a life of struggle, lived to the full".

Here is an extract from the 2024 tribute to Keith by the current Aotearoa Philippines Solidarity: "From 1986-1991 Keith worked full time as the national coordinator of the Philippines Solidarity Network. This was a tumultuous time in Philippine history, marking the end of the Marcos martial law regime but also sadly the continuation of death squad killings of progressive activists".

"The anti-US bases movement was at its height, coinciding with the height of the ultimately successful anti-nuclear movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand. There was great interest in Philippine affairs in Aotearoa/New Zealand during this time. Keith organised many exchange visits between progressive New Zealanders and their Philippine counterparts - cementing ties that continue to underpin our work today".

"As an MP Keith continued his interest in Philippine affairs. When then Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, visited New Zealand in 2007, Keith used his platform as an MP to bring attention to extrajudicial killings of activists in the Philippines and the unjust imprisonment of the Philippine Congressman Crispin Beltran, also known by his nickname 'Ka Bel'".

"Similarly, in 2010, when the New Zealand government designated the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army as a terrorist entity under the Terrorism Suppression Act, Keith also spoke out - calling for New Zealand to instead join Norway as a neutral facilitator of peace talks between the Philippine government and the communist movement. Keith was a firm advocate of peaceful conflict resolution to create a just permanent resolution of armed conflicts and the end of human rights abuses - a stance he also took on other conflicts, such as Palestine and Bougainville".

"Following his retirement from Parliament in 2011, Keith continued to take a great interest in the Philippines. He attended Aotearoa Philippines Solidarity events and happily signed statements calling for an end to extrajudicial killings, the freeing of political prisoners and other human rights causes. He was always happy to pass on his knowledge and experience".

"Most Notorious Communist Family In New Zealand"

Keith James Locke was born into political activism, in Christchurch, in 1944. "Former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon is said to have described the Lockes as the most 'notorious communist family in New Zealand'" (Wikipedia). I've known the Locke family for as long as I've been a political activist, that is, since 1969. I started off in the Christchurch Progressive Youth Movement (PYM) and had plenty to do with Keith's father Jack, who was the leading light of the local Communist Party (CPNZ).

Youngest daughter Alison was in the local Socialist Action League. I had dealings with Jack for decades in my later (and still current) CAFCA capacity. Next, I worked with Jack's wife, Elsie Locke, for decades as a fellow peace activist, primarily through my (still current) capacity with ABC. My obituary of Jack is in Watchdog 84 (May 1997), My obituary of Elsie is in Watchdog 97, August 2001.

Then I started working with Keith's sister Maire Leadbeater in the 80s, a partnership that continues until today. I've worked with her in three capacities - ABC, CAFCA and the former PSNA. And in my personal capacity - for example, I gave Maire access to my SIS Personal File, as part of her research for "The Enemy Within", her new book on NZ State surveillance. I was privileged to be invited by Maire to speak at the book's November 2024 Christchurch launch. I've seen both Maire and Alison since Keith's death, separately visiting their Christchurch home town (sadly, the section of the Avon Loop street where the Locke family lived for many decades was red zoned and permanently cleared of all buildings after Christchurch's 2010/11 earthquakes).

So, Keith grew up in, and started as a political activist in, "New Zealand's most notorious communist family" (Elsie had been a leading CPNZ figure for decades before leaving the Party in the 1950s). The first entry is Keith's SIS file was made in 1955, when he was 11. He attended the University of Canterbury, where he was active in the New Left Club, and got a degree in psychology. He went to Canada to get a master's degree in sociology. Whilst in Canada he was Chairman of Australians and New Zealanders Against the War in Vietnam. The SIS kept tabs on him during his student years in both NZ and Canada.

Socialist Action League Leader

Keith returned to NZ in 1970 and worked as a junior sociology lecturer at Wellington's Victoria University until 1972. He joined the Socialist Action League (SAL) in 1970 and rapidly became one of its leading national figures. From 1972-77 he was the fulltime Editor of its fortnightly paper Socialist Action. "By 1972, he was both the National Secretary of the SAL and chairman of 'Socialists for Labour'" (Wikipedia). The latter group did not end well. To quote from his SIS file: "In May 1974 Locke was expelled from the Farm Road Branch of the Labour Party for belonging to an organisation opposed to the Labour Party".

In his tribute to Keith for his 80th birthday (just months before Keith died in 2024) his old friend and colleague Matt Robson wrote: "We were not exactly the flavour of the month with the Labour hierarchy. In my branch in 1972 Mike Moore and his organiser Phil Goff summonsed us to plead that we would not sell Socialist Action at Mike's election meetings with banner headlines of 'Legalise Abortion'. Moreover, they were not too keen on Keith's headlines calling for a vote for Labour but demanding socialist policies, which Keith helpfully provided".

I didn't know Keith at all in the 70s. He had left Christchurch by the time I came onto the scene. What is now CAFCA was founded in the mid-70s. I didn't have any dealings with him in those days, but from memory, my colleague (and fellow CAFCA founder) Bill Rosenberg debated him on the question of "nationalism versus internationalism". That's a hoary old political argument on the Left.

Keith's time as a high-profile national leader and ideologue of SAL saw him subjected to intense SIS scrutiny. One report in his file from the 70s records the difficulty that Keith and SAL had in paying the rent on their Wellington building, and details of the locks on individual doors. Another report was by an SIS agent who attended a screening at the Censor's Office of films that Keith had applied to import (the agent described the films as "rather monotonous and infantile").

But even the SIS couldn't find anything bad to say about Keith personally. A 1977 report quotes a source within SAL as saying: "...he named Keith Locke as 'probably' being the outstanding (national) leader. He is treated with 'a lot of respect'. He is experienced and capable and when he speaks everybody sits quietly and listens. He is quiet and shy and does not talk over-much but when he does speak his expression is good and it is obvious he has thought deeply about what he has to say, 'he never talks off the top of his head... If you wanted to put your two bob on someone, you'd put it on Keith Locke.... Source feels Locke has a theoretical depth of knowledge not matched by many others in the SAL".

Manual Work; Bookshop Manager

From 1979 until the mid-80s, Keith worked in, and was an active unionist in, a car factory, a freezing works and the Railways workshops in the Wellington region. In 1985, he moved to Auckland, working in the freezing works for a year (he spent the rest of his life in Auckland). This was all part of the SAL tactic of having its members integrating with the industrial working class, which was a practice also followed by the CPNZ.

Indeed, by working in the freezing works, Keith was following in his father's footsteps. Jack Locke was a Christchurch meat worker and active unionist for decades. Throughout this blue-collar industrial period of Keith's life, the SIS was closely watching him. One 1983 report says: "Locke is a quiet speaker. He speaks slowly and thoughtfully. 'He looks decent, like a school teacher', was the way (withheld) put it - in contrast to some other more animated speakers among SAL members".

By 1985 Keith had left SAL. I don't know why but factionalism and the continual quest for the holy grail of "the correct line" have always been features of the extra-Parliamentary Left (I have to say that I'm glad that I've never been a member of any party). I got a glimpse of this, decades after Keith had quit SAL. Becky and I were hosting another old out of town friend and comrade when I informed him that Keith was coming to visit right then and there.

He looked anxious. I asked why; after all they'd both been in SAL together. He replied yes, but Keith had been in "the other faction" (I'm pleased to report that they both behaved impeccably, and no blood was spilled on our carpet). The SAL and the CPNZ had different interpretations of socialism (rather like the whole Catholic and Protestant thing) and both ceased to exist decades ago.

For the next several years Keith was the full time, paid, national coordinator of the Philippines Solidarity Network, in which capacity I first met him. He'd already been actively involved in various international solidarity campaigns, such as for Chile and East Timor, plus other major campaigns, such as the nuclear-free and anti-apartheid movements. The SIS continued its surveillance of him during this period and spied on the Philippines Solidarity Network as a whole (it was routinely attacked in Rightwing media as a "communist front", organising "Red tourism" for New Zealanders to the Philippines).

One SIS report from this period covers Keith's attendance at, and speaking at, a Wellington meeting organised as part of ABC's 1990 Touching The Bases tour. From 1990 to 99 Keith was the manager of Auckland's non-profit One World Books (it also hosted the Philippines Resource Centre). That's where I used to visit him whenever I was in Auckland in the 90s.

New Labour; Alliance; Greens MP

Keith's political journey was evolving. In 1989 he joined the newly-formed New Labour Party (NLP) and went onto its first National Council. He was the NLP's foreign affairs and defence spokesperson. In 1991 the NLP, Greens, Mana Motuhake and Democrats joined forces to form the Alliance. He was its foreign affairs spokesperson until after the 1996 election, when he was replaced by list MP Matt Robson. By 1997 he was critical of the Alliance cosying up to Labour and when the Greens left the Alliance that year, Keith joined them and became the Party's foreign affairs spokesperson.

Keith was elected as a Greens list MP in 1999. He only got in once special and overseas votes were counted, by which time Helen Clark and Jim Anderton had already stitched up a Labour/Alliance coalition government. In fact, Keith's election tossed out one Labour MP and cost the Government a majority but the Greens agreed to support the Government on confidence and supply. Keith was a Green MP for 12 years, until he retired from Parliament at the 2011 election. I once asked him what does a list MP do? He replied that he considered the whole country to be his electorate and he was as good as his word.

"Through his twelve-year Parliamentary career, Locke was the Green Party spokesperson for foreign affairs, defence, immigration and disarmament, and a member of the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee. He was also a Green Party spokesperson for state services, police, security, human rights, and Auckland transport".

"In 2000, Locke had two Member's bills drawn from the ballot. The first, the Intelligence and Security Committee Act Repeal Bill, attempted to reform oversight of the SIS and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB). It was defeated at its first reading. The second, the International Treaties Bill, attempted to give greater Parliamentary oversight of treaty-making. It was sent to select committee, but ultimately defeated at its second reading in 2003".

"As a Member of Parliament, Locke established a profile of being an 'unofficial civil liberties watchdog'. He was involved in campaigns against the Police being armed with tasers, and for repeal of the law of sedition. He advocated for refugee rights, most prominently in the drawn-out case of Ahmed Zaoui, an Algerian asylum seeker initially deemed by the New Zealand government to be a security risk, but later allowed to settle in New Zealand with his family".

"During his time in Parliament Locke was a leading critic of New Zealand's anti-terrorist legislation, such as the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, which he argued breached human rights principles. He also opposed New Zealand's commitment of special forces to the war in Afghanistan" (Wikipedia). You can read CAFCA's submission on the International Treaties Bill here. And you can read ABC's submission on the Terrorism Suppression Bill here.

Red Baiting

Throughout his whole time in Parliament, he was subject to the most disgraceful Red baiting and sledging from his political opponents, Winston Peters being the most prominent. They dubbed Keith "Pol Pot" (because, as Socialist Action's Editor in the 1970s, he had initially supported Pol Pot's victorious Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. He quickly renounced his support once the genocidal nature of that regime became known).

Actually, that's one thing we had in common. Pol Pot was the nickname my Railways workmates gave me in the late 80s and early 90s, plus putting a hammer and sickle flag on my desk (it was all in good fun, nothing like what Keith had to endure). After his death the Listener ran a quote from Keith about Winston Peters' opinion of him: "I was a namby pamby pacifist who didn't believe in violence, and at the same time, I was a supporter of terrorism. I always found that a bit of a contradiction".

Keith was also a good sport and, most unusually for a politician, a man of his word. In 2005 he said that if ACT won the Epsom electorate at that year's election, he would run naked through the streets. It did, and he did - well, almost. "Locke's promise made headlines in media around the world. On Sunday 25 September 2005 Locke walked near-naked down Broadway (a main shopping street in Newmarket, Auckland) wearing shoes, socks, a G-string, and body paint. The paint camouflaged Locke's skin by depicting a suit and tie from the neck down" (Wikipedia).

Keith certainly had a life outside of politics. When he retired as an MP, I asked him what he was going to do. He replied that he might now have time to go to a few more Warriors' games. I told him that he must be a glutton for punishment. Actually, post-retirement, he stayed very active, writing for various outlets, coming to Waihopai spy base protests, etc, etc.

Throughout the decades that I knew him, Keith and I always looked each other up, whenever we were in Christchurch or Auckland, respectively. Keith was a regular and welcome guest at the Christchurch home of Becky and myself (always prefaced by a phone call that started with a cheery "Keith here"). Here's one story from those visits. It was not long after the February 2011 killer quake. By the time Keith visited, we'd had so many of the bloody things that we'd become rather blasé about them.

One struck while we were chatting to Keith in our dining room. We just kept on chatting to him. After what must have seemed like an eternity to him, he asked: "Shouldn't we get under the table"? Oh no, we assured him, this is only a magnitude 3 (or whatever) and, therefore, not worth worrying about. Besides, I doubt that all three of us would have fitted.

Kind, Generous, Fearless And Staunch

I was last in Auckland in 2017 and was privileged to be invited to a big Locke family dinner at Maire's home. It was there, whilst sitting next to Keith, that I was able to spot the telltale early symptoms of Parkinson's. I was one of those invited by his family to write a tribute to him for his 80th birthday, just a few months before he died in 2024, of cancer. Here is how I finished it: "Keith, I've valued your friendship for decades and I've valued your political partnership in what Filipinos call 'the parliament of the streets'".

"You have been kind, generous, fearless, and staunch. You have made a huge contribution to the progressive movement in this country and further afield. As for that old 'nationalism versus internationalism' debate, we both established that the correct answer is both. You have courageously withstood enormous amounts of abuse and provocation from your enemies, some of whom still hold high office today ...you can be proud of what you've packed into, and achieved, in 80 years".

MAY BASS

- Murray Horton

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