Sunday 21 April, 2013
 
Government Review of NZ Defence Force’s UN Commitments Underway.
 
Defence minister Dr Jonathan Coleman has told TV One’s Q+A programme that the government is currently reviewing the NZ Defence Force’s United Nations commitments, and that it would consider doing more peacekeeping work for the United Nations, if requested.
 
“They’re always looking for people. NZ has a great record in that area, so potentially that will be an area where we contribute in the future.
 
“We’ve always had a very involved role with peacekeeping, and we’re actually doing a review at the moment to see, you know, where that might take us in the future. But the UN have indicated that there will be increasing demand for peacekeeping deployments. So that is something that we would anticipate NZ would continue to be involved in. And, as I say, we’re doing a review at the moment as to what the future might hold,” the minister said.
 
Coleman told political editor Corin Dann that the threats facing the world were changing.
 
“You’ve obviously got the threat of cyber, which has had a lot of publicity in recent times. You’ve got non-state actors acquiring a range of weapons. You’ve got things happening in countries like Syria. The Middle East obviously continues to be an unstable environment. You’ve also got the on-going issue with natural disasters in our part of the world. So, you know, geo-politically, as well in terms of the natural environment, it’s an environment with a lot of threats in it. There’s also issues around competition for resources in our part of the world in terms of fisheries. There’s on-going search and rescue work. Obviously a lot of publicity around boat people as well.”
 
NZ’s Defence Force has between 8500-9000 regular force soldiers.
 
Q+A, 9-10am Sundays on TV ONE and one hour later on TV ONE plus 1. Repeated Sunday evening at 11:30pm. Streamed live at www.tvnz.co.nz   
 
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Q+A
 
CORIN DANN INTERVIEWS DR JONATHAN COLEMAN
 
SUSAN WOOD
Corin spoke to Defence Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman on Friday and started by asking him after tours of duty in East Timor, the Solomons and Afghanistan, where to now for our defence forces?
           
DR JONATHAN COLEMAN - Defence Minister
The fact is we’ve spent most of the last decade in three major deployments in those three areas you’ve just mentioned. But back in 1999, if you had told the NZDF they were going to spend the next decade in Afghanistan, the Solomons and East Timor, you know, that would have been news to everybody. So we’re living in an unstable world. We’ve got a lot of work the Defence Force does on an ongoing basis in the South Pacific, and I wouldn’t want to put any money on the Defence Force being not deployed at some time over the next few years. Now, obviously we’re not going around looking for wars to get involved in, but the reality of a very unstable world that we live in, the reality of natural disasters in the Pacific means that the Defence Force will be doing something. And that’s the point I made to the troops in Bamiyan when I was there the other week.
 
CORIN DANN
                        What are the specific threats to NZ now? Are we in a benign environment? You say unstable. More unstable? Less unstable?
 
JONATHAN   Well, it’s a changing environment. I mean, you’ve obviously got the threat of cyber, which has had a lot of publicity in recent times. You’ve got non-state actors acquiring a range of weapons. You’ve got things happening in countries like Syria. The Middle East obviously continues to be an unstable environment. You’ve also got the ongoing issue with natural disasters in our part of the world. So, you know, geo-politically, as well in terms of the natural environment, it’s an environment with a lot of threats in it. There’s also issues around competition for resources in our part of the world in terms of fisheries. There’s ongoing search and rescue work. Obviously a lot of publicity around boat people as well.
 
CORIN            So a lot of non-combat roles you’re talking about there. So not specifically in the theatre of war - a lot of other jobs for our military.
 
JONATHAN   Yep, and that’s always been the case. I mean, Christchurch earthquakes was a very good example where our military had a major role. They do a lot of maritime patrolling work, search and rescue work, a lot of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief work in the Pacific. That’s about 30 per cent of their work overall, actually.
 
CORIN            What about a bit more peacekeeping? Is that something we could do, given that we might have a bit more freer resources?
 
JONATHAN   Well, we’ve always had a very involved role with peacekeeping, and we’re actually doing a review at the moment to see, you know, where that might take us in the future. But the UN have indicated that there will be increasing demand for peacekeeping deployments. So that is something that we would anticipate NZ would continue to be involved in. And, as I say, we’re doing a review at the moment as to what the future might hold.
 
CORIN            So possible that we could increase the amount of peacekeeping work we do around the world.
 
JONATHAN   Well, I’m certainly not making any commitments around that, but what I would say is there will be an ongoing UN demand for peacekeepers, and we would naturally consider any request that was made. But they’re always looking for people. NZ has a great record in that area, so potentially that will be an area where we contribute in the future. But I’m not making any commitments about that.
 
CORIN            What about the shape of our defence force? How do we prepare for this next era where we’ve perhaps got a slightly bigger focus in the Pacific/Asia region? I know you’ve talked about amphibious forces. Can you give us some more details about what the shape of our force will look like?
 
JONATHAN   Sure. So, in the 2010 White Paper, we laid out the strategic environment, and we described the sort of force structure that NZ would need to meet that environment. And the core of it is, as you say, a combined amphibious taskforce. So basically it’s more emphasis on tri-service activities launched off ships, supported by helicopters, with troops that are able to deploy off ships immediately into theatres. So we’ve got a Defence Force that, you know, numbers move around a bit, but 8500 to 9000 regular force soldiers. That’s what we reckon is about right for the future force structure. Over time, the numbers have come down, but you also have to accept that technology means we have needed fewer people. So that's about the force structure we are looking at.
 
CORIN            But have we in fact got the capability to implement that policy? I see the Chief of the Defence Force, Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, saying we actually don't need as many ships, because we've got other intelligence systems, suggesting that perhaps we might not need as many of these inshore and offshore patrol vessels that you've got.
 
JONATHAN   Yeah, look, those remarks he made were taking the very long view out to 2035. The fact is at the moment we do need those inshore patrol vessels. As time goes on though, you know, more of that work potentially – you know, we’re talking 20 years away - could be done through aerial surveillance, could be done through unmanned aircraft. But he's taking a long view. But I can tell you there is no plan to downsize the Navy.
 
CORIN            Part of the problem is it’s manning these ships, though, isn't it? I mean, it you've had to get Australian sailors on board to do it in the wake of these defence cutbacks.
 
JONATHAN   Well, there’s two things. I mean, we do have Australians here, but we've got an almost equal number of NZ sailors serving with other navies as part of an exchange programme. There have been some issues around key, highly skilled positions - difficulty filling those. But if you look at our fleet at the moment, you know, Te Mana is up in the Asian area. The other frigate is in maintenance, which is perfectly normal. Our two offshore patrol vessels are out there, deployed. By June, three of the four IPVs will be deployable, one in maintenance. So despite the difficulties, and you've got to remember we've been through the global financial crisis, which has impacted on resources for defence forces across the world. We are getting our ships to sea, and, crucially, they are delivering on what the government needs them to deliver.
 
CORIN            Do still have an attrition problem, though? I mean, we've seen a number of reports suggesting that morale is very low in the forces and that attrition is still very high, and given that unemployment is probably coming down, you may find it even harder to get recruits.
 
JONATHAN   Well, look, the latest survey indicates that morale is actually improving. 8- per cent of people in the Defence Force rate their personal morale as satisfactory or better. Attrition in the latest figures out is actually also improving. It's now better than it was when Labour was in government. So we're losing fewer people than we were. The reality is we are able to get in people to the Defence Force at the very early stages, so 18-year-olds. They're lining up to join. Where we have problems is those mid-career professionals, highly skilled, for whom there is a market for their skills-
 
CORIN            Because that’s Labour’s criticism, isn't it? Labour says that when you went through this process of the civilianisation of the Defence Force, you lost a lot of highly skilled people from the Defence Force.
 
JONATHAN   Well, actually, we only civilianised 300 positions. But the reality is these people are skilled. You know, they have options elsewhere. But if you look at the key thing - the Defence Force is able to deliver on the government's policy, and that is the key thing. We do acknowledge that in areas like the Navy, yep, there have been issues maintaining or retaining skilled people, but we're working on that, and the Navy is doing what is needed in terms of its outputs.
 
CORIN            Mr Coleman, just finally very quickly, the Budget is coming up. Do you want and does the military need more money, and are you going to get it?
 
JONATHAN   Look, we don't need more money at this point. We've got a very good savings plan, very good four-year plan that shows we can deliver what the government needs the military to deliver. In the longer term, though, you know, with inflation, we will probably need more money. But that's a story for another day.
 
 ENDS

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