9. Question No. 9—DefenceLEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour) to the Minister of DefenceQuestion No. 9—Defence9. LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour) to the Minister of Defence: What recent announcements has he made on Defence Force funding? Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Defence): Yesterday I was happy to announce that Budget 2023 will invest $419 million over four years to deliver the biggest pay increase in over a decade to our defence personnel. A number of factors have led to a significant pressure on our Defence Force. These include high rates of staff turnover as well as an increase in calls on the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) such as responding to Cyclone Gabrielle training Ukrainian troops in the UK and surveillance and patrolling in our region. Attracting and retaining more New Zealanders into our defence force means we need to ensure that wages are competitive. This investment helps achieve that. We have a moral obligation as the Prime Minister has said to ensure our soldiers sailors and aviators are fairly paid for the critical and often dangerous work that they do and this Government takes that responsibility seriously on behalf of all New Zealanders. In addition to that I also announced yesterday $328 million for upgrading our Defence Force assets and infrastructure to ensure that we can better work with our partners to meet our commitments here in the Pacific and abroad. Lemauga Lydia Sosene: How will this investment affect pay rates for defence personnel? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: With this investment the pay of many NZDF personnel including new recruits and skilled lower-ranked service personnel will increase by between $4000 and $15000 from 1 July. Ninety percent of NZDF personnel will now be paid at or close to market rates for comparable roles and this will go a long way to address attrition issues and make defence a career of choice. This increase is four times greater than any previous defence remuneration boost since 2014. Lemauga Lydia Sosene: What will this package provide regarding defence housing? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Many personnel in the NZDF and their families are asked to move between bases to serve and it's important that the housing provided is suitable to support them to do their jobs: $85.5 million will go towards the renovation and modernisation of 13 houses at Linton Ōhākea and Burnham and a significant investment of 50 new houses at Waiōuru to continue the Government's commitment to progress the commercial redress partnership in the Ngāti Rangi Claims Settlement Act 2019. Providing housing that is safe futureproofed and fit for the needs of personnel at individual camps and bases will ensure that personnel are healthy and well positioned to perform their roles effectively when and where we need them. Lemauga Lydia Sosene: What will this package mean for upgrading defence equipment and infrastructure? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: It's important that New Zealand has the personnel and equipment to play our part in supporting global peace and security. That's why we're investing $90 million for a new aviation fuelling facility at Ōhākea to support our new P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and $59 million to extend the life of our two Anzac class frigates through to the mid-2030s. In addition we're also investing $93 million to provide world-class communications systems to meet the most recent international interoperability and security standards and to ensure secure communication with our partners on our frigates and our new Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles. This will allow for the state of the art voice and data transfer on encrypted platforms.