Defence Minister Peeni Henare says he will not slash the Government’s plans to spend billions on military hardware in the coming decades, but instead the projects will be pushed further into the future.
Henare has for months signalled the Government would be looking to redraw the former defence minister Ron Mark’s Defence Capability Plan due to the cost of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, on Thursday, Henare said the plan remained to spend billions of dollars on new frigates, aeroplanes, combat vehicles, and long range drones beyond 2030.
“We are not cutting back on the DCP [Defence Capability Plan]. We've made it very clear that we want to be able to have a look at the DCP, review it but also looking to align it with Government priorities,” he told Parliament's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee.
Henare said the capability plan wasn’t just about ships and planes. Infrastructure was a problem and part of the capability plan was to “regrow” those bases.
This aligned with the Government’s priorities, he said. He was currently discussing what the plan might look like with Finance Minister Grant Robertson, and more detail would be known by the final quarter of this year.
Green Party defence spokeswomen Golriz Ghahraman asked Henare whether it was now irresponsible to proceed with the “outlandishly expensive” purchase of frigates in the future, given the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate crisis.
Henare said there was a need to balance this view with the need to support Pacific nations through the climate crisis, and that could only be done with such military equipment.
Secretary of Defence Andrew Bridgman, also at the hearing, later told Stuff the Government was under pressure due to Covid-19 and a redrawn Defence Capability Plan would not mean scrapping planned projects, but moving them “out a bit”.
“It's working with ministers on a revised plan that works for them, given the budget priorities that they've got over the coming years. That's what we need to do.”
Henare also confirmed the navy would soon deploy the HMNZS Wellington – an offshore patrol vessel – to the Pacific to help the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in the far corners of New Zealand’s realm.
The three-week tour of Tokelau and the Cook Islands, which have escaped the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, would begin in about a week’s time.
“In the coming weeks we will be deploying a ship to support our vaccine roll-out across the Pacific, which is one of those key parts to the recovery from Covid-19. Some parts of our Pacific don't have the impacts of Covid-19 ... But are certainly suffering the side effects,” Henare said.
He said more details of the trip would be announced soon.
