Williams Andrew: Defence Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Williams Andrew: Defence Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:678;Page:864] 
ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise to speak on behalf of New Zealand First on this Defence Amendment Bill. We also are in agreement with all the other members in this House that New Zealand’s Defence Force has a very proud tradition of serving to protect our people our borders our values and our sovereignty of New Zealand. Our defence objectives are best achieved through a combination of factors however; it is not just about defence. It is also about trade it is also about diplomacy it is also about economic and technical aid it is also about continuing to support the United Nations and it is also about supporting our peacekeeping and peacemaking operations around the world. 
As we all know New Zealand is very much a maritime nation. In fact at the Local Government and Environment Committee at the moment where we are considering the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill we have been advised that we have the fifth-largest economic zone—out to the 200-mile limit—in the world. It is huge by any standard of any nation and therefore New Zealand is very much dependent on and must take notice of the fact that our maritime capabilities must be there. Indeed our maritime capabilities must also extend to assist our South Pacific neighbours and friends who perhaps do not all have sufficient capabilities to monitor some of their own areas of the Pacific as well. 
New Zealand First itself of course is committed to building and maintaining a professional and effective Defence Force and we always will be. We believe in a strong Defence Force and we believe in a strong army navy and air force. For our size of only 4.5 million people I think—and our party certainly feels—that we do very well and we punch above our weight. However we could do better and there are aspects of this bill that we do support. We do agree with certain sections of it such as being able to merge some of the operations and find economies of scale across the navy army and air force through cooperation between the various arms of our Defence Force and bringing some of those under one umbrella to find economies of scale. 
However this is not just about finding economics in our military. This is very much perhaps a  
Dad’s Army 
 bill in disguise. We see this as very much again the National Party wishing to privatise parts of our military. This is very much along the lines of National tactics in other areas such as our prisons wishing to privatise aspects of our prisons; charter schools with the ACT Party and National wishing to privatise parts of our education; and wishing through the Auckland Council to privatise many aspects of local government. This is just another part of the whole web of intrigue from the National Government: now trying to privatise parts of our military. Indeed it flows on very closely to the privatisation of our assets such as our power companies and Air New Zealand. It is just a continuous broken record of privatisation by the National Government of much of our heritage and much of what this country stands for. 
This bill also undermines our Territorial Force. Good people throughout New Zealand working in communities all over New Zealand spend time in the Territorial Force. Very important people give of their time to also make huge contributions when they are posted in overseas theatres of war and in peacekeeping efforts and also at home in emergencies such as the Christchurch earthquake national disasters—and I am not talking about the National Party; I am talking about national disasters—and civil defence emergencies. This bill goes as low as also wanting to scrap 17 Territorial bands around New Zealand leaving only three regular force bands for all the important occasions that New Zealand is so proud of. Many communities in New Zealand on Anzac Day next year will struggle to have a presence of a Territorial band at important ceremonies that they are undertaking or indeed throughout the year marking other important commemorations. 
This will also have a flow-on effect—this white paper and this defence bill—in terms of jobs. This Government keeps talking about creating more jobs and more employment. We must always remember that our military provides a huge amount of employment in this country. It is the basis of many of our apprenticeships of training and of getting young New Zealanders into a service and into a career giving them a leg-up getting them into the services and giving them an opportunity for a job in life. Many of them learn their trades in the military then go on out into the community once they leave the forces to be very very useful people with good trades training good skills training or good information technology communications and other training from the military. 
This Defence Amendment Bill very much is a  
Dad’s Army 
 bill. It is no wonder that Stratfor political analysts in the USA just a few days ago made the following comments: “When it comes to geopolitical importance it doesn’t get much … lower than New Zealand. I mean they barely have an air force …”; “What possible strategic use is that little part of the world to … anyone??!!”. This is from stratfor.com which is widely listened to by very very significant and important people in the United States and internationally. Those are the sorts of comments that were leaked on WikiLeaks about New Zealand. Imagine what the comments will be once we further cut our military and turn it into a privatised  
Dad’s Army 
. Imagine the future comments from the likes of stratfor.com. 
New Zealand First opposes this Defence Amendment Bill in its present form. It undermines our longstanding proud history of military service in this sovereign nation of ours. Many aspects of this bill will be offensive to our serving personnel will be offensive to our veterans and will be offensive to those who have given of their lives for this country. I look on the wall once again to my left at the Viet Nam crest on the wall and I wonder what my brother would be thinking today had he survived the Viet Nam War and not been killed in action on behalf of this country. What would he be thinking today at the privatisation of many aspects of our army navy and air force? I think people like my brother who have served this country and died for this country and many others whose names the Minister mentioned before would similarly be aghast to see that we are turning New Zealand very much into a  
Dad’s Army 
 and a privatised Defence Force in many respects which again will be for the benefit of those who support the National Government and can get the private contracts. New Zealand First does not support this but we do support the ongoing strength of our military in this country.