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Wairarapa MP, Georgina Beyer, has welcomed the Government's defence plan, which she says which will ensure New Zealand has a modern, sustainable defence force.
"This plan will enable us to do well those things we have to do, and can do, by ensuring that the available money is spent where it is most needed," Ms Beyer said.
The key components of the new direction for the New Zealand Defence Force are:
- a joint approach to improve co-ordination between the Army, Navy and Air Force;
- a refocused and updated Air Force;
- a modernised Army with new high tech equipment;
- a practical Navy fleet with new ships; and
- a sustainable funding plan to provide financial certainty.
"During the 1990s, National-led governments slashed defence spending. We have put a halt to those cuts and we will need to increase defence spending, and target it carefully, to make up for past neglect," Ms Beyer said.
"Over the next 10 years net operating funding available for the Defence Force will increase by around $700 million, and it is estimated that around $2 billion will have to be spent on new equipment.
"This plan gives the New Zealand Defence Force a sustainable path forward. The Army, Navy and Air Force are being given well-defined roles, modern equipment to match those roles, and certainty of funding to ensure that they can effectively perform the tasks that New Zealand asks of them.
"The plan is based on comprehensive reviews of New Zealand's strategic position and our defence requirements. For the first time in over a decade, we have a coherent and comprehensive strategy for the Defence Force."
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