Poster, 'from somewhere in (the) "South Pacific" David Lange sings'

This poster celebrates New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange's Labour Government's anti-nuclear stance in the mid 1980s. The poster plays on the song 'I'm gonna wash that man right outa my hair' from the famous Broadway musical 'South Pacific' by Rodgers and Hammerstein. 'That man' is United States President Ronald Reagan, whose Navy visited New Zealand in the 1970s and 80s. At issue was whether these ships were nuclear-armed as well as nuclear-powered. American policy was to 'neither confirm nor deny' this, and most allies chose not to ask – an arrangement that made many people uncomfortable.

The Labour Government of 1984 was firmly anti-nuclear, and refused to allow nuclear-powered or -armed ships into New Zealand waters. The policy displeased the United States as it regarded it as a breach of treaty obligations under ANZUS. In 1986, the United States announced that it was suspending its security obligations to New Zealand, with New Zealand being downgraded from 'ally' to 'friend'. In 1987, the Labour Government passed the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act.

David Lange was Prime Minister of New Zealand (1984-89) at the same time that Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States of America (1981-89).