Goff Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goff Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 14 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4363. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill) 
: 
 I would like in sadness to acknowledge today the loss of Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer and Lance Corporal Rory Malone—two young men aged 26 who died supporting their mates in battle and whose lives were sacrificed on behalf of their country. I want to pass on my personal sympathy—and I think that of the House as a whole—to their families at their sad loss. 
I have got to say that Mr Hayes did no credit to himself in the speech that he has just delivered. He talked about cuts. I want to talk about cuts. I want to talk about the $25 million that they took out of the Budget last year that was designed to give our Defence Force personnel their first wage rise in 4 years. Not content with cutting out $25 million last year they have cut out another $25 million this year. These are people who put their lives at risk and who lose their lives and the least we could do is respect them by giving them a reasonable wage taking into account 4 years of inflation. All this Government has done is cut the wages of those people who are serving their country. 
You know you have got a weak Minister of Defence a Minister lacking in confidence when you get a Minister who comes to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee and tries to filibuster his way through. You know he had a 22-page presentation—a 22-page presentation—and after half an hour we said to the chairman: “This has got to stop.” A select committee is about asking questions of the Minister and the Minister being accountable. 
I will tell you why that Minister did not want to answer questions. It is set out here in the presentation on the very last page. It is called the Ongoing Attitude Survey. Do you know what that shows? It shows that 40 percent of our New Zealand Defence Force are planning to leave—40 percent of the Defence Force are planning to leave. What else does it show? It shows that morale is at the lowest level ever under this Government since records began. It has dropped from 58 percent to 35 percent. That shows the lowest level of morale that the Defence Force has ever had. 
Mr Hayes talks about building up capability. I will tell you the capability he built up. The Minister was forced to admit to the select committee that in just 2 years he had slashed the Defence Force by 1000 personnel—1000 personnel. Were they spending their money wisely? No there was $9.5 million in redundancy compared with $250000 in the last year of the Labour Government. 
Who are the people that we are losing? I asked the people down at the Devonport naval base and they said it is the chief petty officers. It is the petty officers it is the warrant officers the people with trade skills the people whom we have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in training in giving them those skills. They have 7 or 8 years’ experience and are in the prime of their career and they are walking away because they know there is a Government that does not care that is not prepared to pay them a decent wage and that will not show them respect. I say that that simply is not good enough—the lowest level of engagement the highest level of attrition. 
Even in the SAS a group I know well and have worked with on many occasions 15 percent of the SAS badged members have left in the last year—15 percent. The best trained the most skilled the elite unit of the New Zealand Army and the members are drifting away because of the policies of this Government. 
That really is not good enough. You cannot leave people without a pay rise. You cannot leave people without what they need to carry out their job properly. That Minister turned up at the select committee and said: “Look at what we’ve done—the C130 programme the programme for the Orion upgrade.” When did they start? It was under a Labour Government. He talked about the NH90 helicopters and the AgustaWestland 108. Who ordered those and paid for them? It was a Labour Government. This Government has done nothing but run down our Defence Force. It is not good enough to slash the numbers by 1000. It is not good enough to not pay them enough. It is not good enough to cut their equipment when these people are out there serving their country dying for their country. Surely they deserve more respect than that. 
Vote agreed to.