Defence spending
At $6 Billion a year, spending on ‘defence’ is already too much.
Because of our geographic position at the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean, Aotearoa/NZ is the safest country in the world. This is why all defence reviews over the last 5 decades have rightly concluded that there is no immediate or even medium-term threat to New Zealand territory or the territory of our Pacific realm countries (Niue, the Cook Islands and Tokelau).
If our military was to focus on the job of protecting the territory and resources of New Zealand and our realm countries - rather than focussing on slotting in to the war-fighting structures and strategies of the United States - we would spend significantly less on our military.
This would free up financial resources for crucial government spending in health, education, dealing with climate change, civil defence emergencies and practical assistance to our Pacific neighbours.
The coalition government’s plan to increase new defence spending by $9 billion over the next four years, while continuing to cut other crucial areas of public spending, makes no sense.
This 37% funding increase does not include the replacement of the ANZAC frigates. Those costs will be paid for beyond the next four years, and the recently published Defence Capability Plan indicates that the government is looking at replacing the two ANZAC frigates with four of the new and more expensive Australian frigates.
The sensible response to the uncertainty caused by the United States’ confused and unpredictable reaction to the growing influence and power of our largest trading partner, China, should be to pause and reassess - from the ground up - the assumptions that underlie our present defence strategy and structure.
By failing to undertake such a re-assessment, the Government is making the mistake of assuming that ‘more of the same’ will do.
“Let’s get this right ..
Under this scenario we’re spending close to $9 billion a year to protect our trade with China … from China.
