CORIN DANN: Would you like to see New Zealand contribute more (to UN Peacekeeping efforts around the world)?

DAVID SHEARER: We have five servicemen and women in South Sudan at the moment. I reckon, I’m biased, but New Zealanders do a really good job. They roll up their sleeves. They get on with it. They make a difference on the ground. I’d like to see more. There’s 13 service people from New Zealand in United Nation missions across the world. There’s 100,000 peacekeepers out there so it’s a pretty small proportion.

CORIN DANN Have you talked to Jacinda Ardern and suggested that perhaps we increase it?

DAVID SHEARER I haven’t. I met her in New York. I didn’t have the chance to bring this up but I do think New Zealand can play a role in that sort of circumstance and, as I say those service people and all the various agencies that are there, New Zealanders pop up and they are doing great work. I just think it’s in our genes. As I say, we roll our sleeves up, we get on with people, we are appreciated and the service people who go out there come back truly rewarded and satisfied for making a difference.

CORIN DANN: What next, any desire to return to politics here?

DAVID SHEARER: No, no, no.

On the situation in South Sudan:

DAVID SHEARER: It is truly awful.

CORIN DANN: Why would you want to do this (job)?

I’ve wanted to do this. I’ve wanted to make a difference. I truly believe we are. It’s an incredibly stressful job, but I can honestly say when I get up in the morning that thousands of people are alive because of our presence there who wouldn’t have been otherwise.

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