‘Key decisions soon’ on military spending
Defence Minister Peeni Henare says the Government will soon make ‘‘key decisions’’ on defence spending, as conflict threatens international security and geopolitical competition rises in the Pacific.
Henare and the Defence Force’s top brass fronted the foreign affairs, defence, and trade select committee yesterday morning, questioned by MPs on the Government’s spending plans.
The Government has long signalled it would redraw defence spending priorities as the Defence Force grapples with ageing equipment, the introduction of new aircraft, high attrition rates and a lack of training due to the pandemic.
Questioned by the National Party on the Government’s level of defence spending, which was set to decline in coming years, Henare said he would soon announce decisions about ‘‘what the future of defence looks like’’.
‘‘We’ve got a job as the Government to continue to assess the needs and capabilities of the Defence Force moving forward, and I’ve made it clear that we will continue to do that,’’ he said.
‘‘There is work under way, of which I’ll be able to say more about in the very near future.’’
Henare has since early 2021 signalled the Government was working on rewriting defence spending, and in December announced his priorities were people, infrastructure, and Pacific.
Earlier in the year the purchase of a Southern Ocean patrol vessel was quietly ‘‘deferred’’, with the Ministry of Defence citing ‘‘personnel pressure’’ among the reasons.
The prior Labour-coalition Government’s acquisition of new Hercules and Poseidon aircraft were due to begin arriving in the country later this year.
Henare said that at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue, a major meeting of leading defence officials from across the world, there was a widely held view that the Russia-Ukraine war would carry on longer than first thought.
‘‘Every nation is now looking towards, ‘Well if this is going to be a longer conflict, what does this mean for our own security?’’
In his meeting with China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the recent dialogue, Henare said he was ‘‘unflinching in my rhetoric’’ that New Zealand would stand by its Pacific neighbours in maintaining an independent and sovereign region.