NZ First leader Winston Peters has promised all defence personnel a 5 per cent pay rise.

He stood in front of an audience of about 35 in Palmerston North to promise all New Zealand Defence Force personnel the pay rise, which would cost the Government $50.5 million a year.

Peters said the military were integral but forgotten, and some were paid less than secretaries.

“Why are they ignored the rest of the time, until we need them? The women and men of our defence force are the ones immediately called upon when disaster strikes.”

Peters said the NZ Defence Force were crucial during Covid-19, and deserved to be paid as such.

“We never got on top of Covid-19 until we got the army in.”

He said they played an important role in keeping all people safe, whether that be in the Pacific or when natural disasters occurred. “We know it is not enough, but it is a start.”

Peters also said managed isolation facilities should be located on military bases, instead of in hotels.

He said it made no sense that people in isolation were placed in the country’s biggest city, surrounded by large and at-risk Pasifika and Māori populations.

It was much cheaper and far more effective to have people isolated on a military base, in smaller communities and with fewer chances of escaping.

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“They [the military] are the right people to be managing our quarantine facilities. The army knows how to follow orders.”

NZ First Palmerston North candidate Darroch Ball said the pay increase would affect thousands of military personnel in Palmerston North and Manawatū.

“It’s fundamental.”

He said there would not necessarily be an isolation facility at Linton, as Waiouru and Ohakea already had appropriate infrastructure.

“If we are planning seriously, we need to look at the Defence Force and long term infrastructure, and pay rises.”

Ball said the government would need to invest in temporary and permanent infrastructure on military bases to make facilities that were fit for purpose.

“Whether that be buildings and facilities, water or sewerage.”

He said it was not known how long Covid-19 would hang around, and planning needed to be “full and robust”.

He said soldiers working on the isolation project could also be in quarantine on base, and would not have contact with civilians. “No-one is going in and out.”