A former Labour leader's broken ranks with his Party -- in supporting AUKUS pillar two

Former Defence Minister Andrew Little's delivered a speech at the University of Canterbury, saying the current Government's right to investigate the military intelligence-sharing agreement with the US, the UK and Australia.

Little says that some of the advanced technology that's part of pillar 2 is of interest to New Zealand, and the world is very different now from 10 and 20 years ago.

This puts him at odds with Leader Chris Hipkins, foreign affairs spokesman David Parker and former Prime Minister Helen Clark.