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Did Brownlee Make up Sale of Navy Ships ‘on the Hoof?’

Did Brownlee Make up Sale of Navy Ships ‘on the Hoof?’

Having revealed that several Royal New Zealand Navy vessels have not left port in years, New Zealand First is now asking the Minister of Defence to prove he did not come up with the idea of selling HMNZS Taupo and Pukaki until the media asked him.

“If Minister Brownlee is advocating for defence then it has not been with the person who holds the nation’s purse strings,” says the Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First and Member of Parliament for Northland.

“By asking the Minister of Finance instead, we can reveal that Minister Brownlee has not sent a single email, letter, memo, carrier pigeon, or flag semaphore message to Mr English, regarding the sale of two naval vessels, transport aircraft purchases, or even a third Offshore Patrol Vessel.

“As a former Treasurer, no Minister of the Crown would keep quiet on major capital items if they were at all serious about them and especially ahead of the Budget.

“This seems like policy made on the hoof.

“And with the 2015 Defence White Paper well overdue, it fuels speculation that Minister Brownlee ‘has lost the dressing room’, in this case, the confidence of both the Defence Force and the Ministry itself.

“Minister Brownlee promised the Defence White Paper by the end of 2015, then it was going to be the end of April and we are still waiting.

“Our Defence men and women deserve better,” Mr Peters says.

QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER: REPLIES FROM THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

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QWA 5289 (2016): By correspondence type and date, if any, how many letters, emails, memos, briefings, reports has the Minister of Defence presented on Vote Defence 2016, specifically on the disposal of HMNZS Taupo and Pukaki?

Answer: I have not received any correspondence on this matter.

QWA 5288 (2016): By correspondence type and date, if any, how many letters, emails, memos, briefings, reports has the Minister of Defence presented on Vote Defence 2016, specifically on transport aircraft capable of travelling to and from Antarctica?

Answer: I have not received any correspondence on this matter.

QWA 5287 (2016): By correspondence type and date, if any, how many letters, emails, memos, briefings, reports has the Minister of Defence presented on Vote Defence 2016, specifically on the acquisition of a third Offshore Patrol Vessel?

Answer: I have not received any correspondence on this matter.

ENDS

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