Goff - National's Defence policy a non-event

Goff - National's Defence policy a non-event

National's policy on Defence released today is a total non-event, Defence Minister Phil Goff said today.

As in 2005, when it was released late on a Friday, the "launch" seems designed to attract minimum attention.

"To be fair to National, its low profile release is appropriate given its appalling track record in the 1990s, which saw a 24 per cent cut in Defence Force numbers, a 30 per cent slashing of spending on Defence, and the increasing obsolescence of Defence Force equipment," Phil Goff said.

"In addition, having flip-flopped on its main points of difference in this area with Labour, such as its support for sending New Zealand troops to Iraq and for reinstating an air combat wing, it now seems just to endorse Labour's policies.

"The area that it highlights in its release, calling for a White Paper on Defence, is not a policy at all - it's simply a process.

"A White Paper requires a Government to have a clear sense of broad policy direction and principles, and a willingness to resource any changes proposed.

"Nowhere in National's policy release are these things evident. Therefore saying your main policy is to have a White Paper is really just a thinly disguised admission of having no policy at all.

"As Defence Minister, I have already indicated that a Labour Government will conduct a policy review, as foreshadowed in our 2005 Manifesto.

"This will coincide with planning for a replacement of the Long Term Development Plan, which runs out in 2012, and a mid-point review of the Defence Sustainability Initiative - both of which were introduced by this government to provide certainty of planning for our Defence Force.

"Under these two initiatives, Labour has invested more than $8 billion in capital and operating expenditure in Defence.

"All three services, Navy, Army and Air Force, have enjoyed a major investment in new equipment and since 2005, a significant boost to personnel numbers of nearly 1100.

"Without sacrificing our commitment to an independent foreign policy, we have strengthened our defence relationships with close friends like Australia.

"And we have sustained the largest commitment in decades to peacekeeping deployments in countries including Afghanistan, Timor Leste and the Solomons.

"The Defence Force, as acknowledged at the RSA National Conference today, is in the best shape it has been in for decades.

"The policy review, scheduled for next year, will build on our current Defence policy settings, taking account of the contemporary strategic environment to ensure that our future decisions on Defence continue to be appropriate and matched to our needs," Phil Goff said.

ENDS