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Compulsory military training inappropriate
Labour's welfare spokesperson
Steve Maharey said Labour did not support compulsory
military training.
He was commenting on a New Zealand First Policy promoting compulsory military service for all 18-year-old males.
"It's out of date and inappropriate - both for society and for the armed forces themselves," Steve Maharey said.
"As illustrated with the Army's involvement in peace keeping in East Timor, New Zealand has a modern professional force. Military recruits need to see their involvement as a career choice, not something they are press ganged into.
"It is not the role of our military forces to provide national services for all young people and I do not believe they currently have the capacity to do so, even if they wished to.
"Labour strongly believes that no young person should leave school without real options in jobs, education or training but compulsion is not the answer.
"Instead, we believed this will be achieved
through a range of measures including lower costs to
education, job creation in regions, beefed up training
opportunities like our modern apprenticeship system," Steve
Maharey
said.
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