5. Question No. 5—DefenceDARROCH BALL (NZ First) to the Minister of DefenceQuestion No. 5—Defence5. DARROCH BALL (NZ First) to the Minister of Defence: What recent reports has he received of the New Zealand Defence Force delivering value to the community or world? Hon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): I can assure the House that while Parliament was in recess over the summer break our women and our men in uniform have been very busy. In the community last week an NH-90 helicopter with 11 personnel two Unimog trucks and 13 soldiers deployed to Southland to help people trapped by flooding; as part of the Government response to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak the Tamaki Leadership Centre in Whangaparāoa with the support of New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel has been used as an accommodation facility for those in isolation after being evacuated from China; and many of you would have seen the brilliant Tri-Service Guard Tri-Service kapa haka group the Black Falcons fly-past the army chefs the military bands and HMNZS Waitangi all at Waitangi this year supporting a range of events including the opening of Te Rau Aroha the Māori armed forces museum. Darroch Ball: Is the Minister aware of any recent examples where the NZDF has delivered value on the world stage? Hon RON MARK: Alongside our maintaining deployments to diverse theatres such as Afghanistan Egypt Iraq the Korean Peninsula and South Sudan this summer the New Zealand Defence Force leant forward with our Australian and Pacific partners into a huge effort to support the response to the Australian bushfires. In total 147 personnel have deployed to Australia including military firefighters New Zealand combat engineers plant operators environmental health personnel and primary health teams as well as three NH-90 helicopters two C-130 Hercules and one B-757—SPEAKER: OK OK. Darroch Ball: What challenges arose for helicopter crews on the mission to support the Australian bushfire response? Hon RON MARK: Well that's a good question because conditions for the helicopter crews were extremely challenging at times with severe turbulence dense smoke dust storms and electrical storms affecting flying conditions. Despite this however the crews and maintainers performed exceptionally and with the exception of days when smoke and weather prevented flying 100 percent of all missions allocated were flown. It is noteworthy that there was little to no respite between the return to New Zealand and redeployment of an NH-90 and crew down to Southland in response to the flooding down there. Darroch Ball: What challenges arose for C-130 crews on the mission to support the Australian bushfire response? Hon RON MARK: Once again unfortunately when the first C-130 arrived in Australia to contribute to the response it broke down. A second C-130 had to be sent over along with a new engine before joining the Australian Defence Force firefighting effort. Once again this reinforces the challenge of operating with ageing defence equipment and a problem we have inherited here. I am proud of the coalition Government for making the decision last year to select the highly capable C-130J-30 Super Hercules as a replacement for these old and ageing 1960s-era Hercules. Rest assured Mr Speaker and the House that front of my mind is progressing the procurement of the Super Hercules. It is our highest capability priority this year that this Government will address.