Roy Heather: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Roy Heather: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:3715] 
HEATHER ROY (Deputy Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the Appropriation (2005/06 Supplementary Estimates) Bill and I want to devote my short speech to the supplementary estimates for Vote Defence Force. No doubt the Government thought it was being very generous in allocating an extra $39 million to Vote Defence Force and I expect that New Zealanders are supposed to be eternally grateful for that move as are probably the Army Navy and Air Force. But when we look at the supplementary estimates we see that most of the extra allocation although perfectly reasonable is symptomatic of the chronic underfunding of our military defence forces at present. Most of the extra money goes to various line areas in the estimates and covers changes to the capital charge and depreciation so we will see very little extra as a result of that extra spending. 
In fact at Budget time the estimates themselves referred to a multi-year appropriation which means that funding will be spread over 3 years as opposed to being year by year. The concept is a sound one and it gives some security in planning. However there are fishhooks in there and I will highlight those today. On page 333 of the estimates under the heading “Operationally Deployed Forces” is a very interesting paragraph. It is almost at the very end of the estimates and I quote from it: “It is projected that the total three-year funding appropriated for this MYA”—multi-year appropriation—“will have been expended by the end of the second year”. What is the point in having a 3-year plan when the Government has sanctioned the spending of all the money by the end of the second year? Very little I would have thought. 
The same paragraph goes on to state $24.8 million is the expected actual expenditure “as at year end 2005/06 year and $40.575 [million] being budgeted for 2006/07. This projection is based on projected commitments to operational deployments in 2006/07.” the financial year we are about to move into. Heaven help us if anything else happens and we need peacekeeping troops or whatever in the 20007-08 year because there is no money for that. What would happen is the Defence Force would have to go cap in hand to the Government yet again for extra spending. That very point was highlighted earlier in the estimates document under the heading “Comparison of Departmental Output Expenses: 2005/06 and 2006/07” where the document states: “the NZDF may request an additional appropriation from Cabinet for the incremental costs” of any major operational deployment. But that hardly gives the Defence Force any surety or ability to plan for what may be proposed or for any engagements it may have to undertake. 
One thing that I think has not been highlighted at all in the estimates is the fact that our reserve forces are undervalued. Balanced capable forces have strong reserves and we do not need to look very far overseas to see that that is absolutely true. Why do we have reserves? They are a contingency plan and they provide extras in the times of need. In fact our regular forces do rely on our Territorial Force now. Very recently we have had extra troops go to Timor and to the Solomons. The troops were deployed very quickly because of escalating tensions and our Government felt that it was right and proper that we should contribute towards peacekeeping in both of those places. 
What we are seeing because of the lack of funding is a complacency. The attitude of the Government is one of complacency. The implication is that our Government can predict every eventuality and that of course is not the case. We need to see some sort of commitment to our reserves and Regular Force troops and an avoidance of Government complacency. They should not be buried in outputs in hefty tomes and documents such as the Budget ones but we need to ring-fence some specific funding. This Government despite the fact that it can justifiably say it has increased military spending needs to go a long way further than it has gone. Our forces operate on a shoestring and it is time they were looked at seriously so that we can fulfil our obligations to the rest of the world.