Government too Cheap to get Troops Home Safely

ACT Leader Richard Prebble said today that the New Zealand government was turning the New Zealand army into a money making operation.

"The Labour government is making money from the peacekeeping operation, and by allowing the UN to transport our soldiers by the cheapest tenderer possible, in this case an Egyptian Air charter company, is penny-pinching," Mr Prebble said.

"The government has just spent $1 billion buying an 80 percent share of Air New Zealand but won't use the airline to fly our troops home.

"I understand the concern of the New Zealand soldiers and their families when Helen Clark herself will not fly to East Timor on an Egyptian Air charter company but is quite prepared to force the soldiers to return home that way," said Mr Prebble.

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