Goff Phil: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goff Phil: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 12 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8452. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill) 
: 
 What the review of the Defence Force at the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee showed was that the last year under the stewardship of Minister Jonathan Coleman was the worst year in the modern history of the New Zealand Defence Force. There is plummeting morale. The morale in the Defence Force crashed from 58 percent when Minister Coleman and his Government took over to 35 percent—the lowest morale rate in the history of the survey of the Defence Force under Minister Coleman. And then there was the question of attrition which soared to 21 percent. That is more than one in five of our most skilled and our most experienced members of the Defence Force quitting in 1 year. And then look at the numbers of the Defence Force. They crashed by over 1000 in 1 year. Minister Coleman— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! Just to remind the member we are actually not on the New Zealand Defence Force. We are on the ministry—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! We are on the Ministry of Defence. The next appropriation is the Defence Force. So if the member—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! I am on my feet. We are focusing on the Ministry of Defence so if you want to focus on that—otherwise you will have to wait. What you are talking about is the New Zealand Defence Force. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Well Mr Chairperson the Ministry of Defence has responsibility for policy governing the Defence Force and I am sure that the Ministry of Defence is utterly shattered that the policy that it set out cannot be carried out by the New Zealand Defence Force because it is no longer capable of doing so. The Minister of Defence pretends that there is capability to carry out the policy of the Ministry of Defence. That is denied by the Auditor-General. The Auditor-General says that there has been damage done to the Defence Force and there is reduced capability. Minister how can you say that there is no reduced capability when the Auditor-General contradicts you absolutely? The Ministry of Defence relies on having a Defence Force to carry out the policy. Yet in a recent court of inquiry into the death of Corporal Douglas Hughes that court of inquiry found that the Defence Force was unable to simultaneously carry out the tasks required of it by the New Zealand Government—it could not sustain the Rugby World Cup at the same time as sending a force on deployment to Afghanistan. In fact the Minister should explain why it was that that force went there with 40 percent less training than was required. The warrant officer said that— 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I would just like to reiterate your point for the second time in less than 5 minutes that Mr Goff is on the wrong vote. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! I will determine that. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The Minister did pathetically at question time and he will not do any better now. What the Minister needs to understand is that there is no point in having a Ministry of Defence unless it has got the capability to carry out the policies that are set out there. What that report showed was that we were putting our people at risk by not adequately preparing them for the deployment. When a warrant officer of the New Zealand Army says our people are not prepared but it has no choice but to send them that is an indictment on the New Zealand Government. The main responsibility of any Government deploying people overseas in pursuit of Defence Force and Ministry of Defence policy is to keep our people safe. How can you keep people safe when you cut their training? You cut their training for example in terms of management of stress and identification of stress. 
Is it any wonder that the family of Corporal Douglas Hughes said that this Government should hold an inquest because there were things sadly lacking in the preparation of our people before they went into a zone where their lives were at risk? The New Zealand Ministry of Defence has to have a Defence Force that is capable of carrying out its policy. It does not have that when the attrition in the Defence Force is so great that 1000 people leave and we cannot even put our ships to sea. The Ministry of Defence acquired new ships for the Defence Force. Brand new inshore patrol vessels acquired by the Ministry of Defence sit idle at the wharf in the Minister of Defence’s electorate because they cannot be put to sea because they do not have the personnel to sail them. How humiliating that we have to go to the Australian Defence Force to borrow Australian sailors to put our ships at sea. Minister you have failed the New Zealand Defence Force and the Ministry of Defence. You have no right to hold that position. You should resign. 
Report noted.