Lees-Galloway Iain: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 14 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4360. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 I begin my contribution this evening by acknowledging the service and sacrifice of Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer and Lance Corporal Rory Malone and also acknowledging their families who have lost a son a brother a nephew and a partner and who have given up their loved ones in the service of this nation. I think we should all be mindful of that as we carry through this debate this evening. 
The Government promised New Zealand that the Defence Force under National would be able to do more with less. But all that the Minister of Defence Jonathan Coleman has achieved is to drive down the morale within our armed forces to the lowest level it has ever been. There are more of our Defence Force personnel lining up to leave today than there have ever been before. Engagement is trending downwards day after day and it is not just getting worse; it is getting worse at a faster rate now that it has at any point before. So whilst this Government has presided over 2 years of mismanagement of the defence forces they have not even been able to tidy up their act; it is getting worse now than it has ever been getting before. 
There are a number of reasons for this but there are two that we can probably point to. One reason is the terribly mismanaged process of civilianisation which this Government foisted upon the defence forces and which they now accept was an absolute failure. In fact the second round of civilianisation will not go ahead because it has had such a detrimental impact on our defence forces. The second reason for such poor morale in our defence forces is the 4-year wage freeze that has occurred under this National Government. It is no wonder that personnel are lining up to leave. In fact they are leaving at such a rate that there are 1000 fewer personnel in the defence forces today than there were 2 years ago. That is not intentional. The Government did not intend for there to be 1000 fewer personnel in the defence forces than there were 2 years ago. This is a direct reflection of the absolute mismanagement of our defence forces by this Government. Skilled personnel are walking away from our Defence Force because the Minister Jonathan Coleman has made such a hash of his job. Those people are walking away and although we have new people coming on board the defence forces are losing those skills. 
It has got so bad that the attrition rate in the navy is 22.3 percent. Because of that we cannot put our inshore patrol vessels to sea. How ridiculous is it that we have new equipment tied up at Devonport unable to be put to sea because we do not have the crew to get them out doing their job patrolling our exclusive economic zone? Members of the SAS are lining up to leave—our most important ground forces our most specialised ground forces. We are losing those skills as well. And I tell you what those personnel are deeply unhappy with our Minister because he said: “Look they have just got to get over it.” He said: “But you’ve got to remember you’ve got guys in there who have been there 25 or 30 years. They’ve been used to a job-for-life culture. The reality is the NZDF has to come in line with the rest of the world.” It was that line—that the New Zealand Defence Force has a job-for-life culture—that went down like a cup of cold sick amongst Defence Force personnel and they have reacted against our Minister by lining up to leave. 
It is not a job for life. It is a calling. It is service. In the name of our nation we send our men and women overseas sometimes to die serving our nation and the Minister had the gall to call it a job-for-life attitude. One member of the Defence Force has put it to me like this. He said: “Look. We have no employment protections. We don’t fall under the Employment Relations Act. We’ve got no bargaining. We’ve got no unions. We serve our nation and we expect our nation to reciprocate that service to acknowledge that service.”