Burton Mark: Urgent Debates — Solomon Islands—Deployment of Police and Military Forces  
Burton Mark: Urgent Debates — Solomon Islands—Deployment of Police and Military Forces  
[Volume:609;Page:6709] 
Hon MARK BURTON (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 Firstly I would like to recognise the thoughtful dignified and I think genuinely sincere contributions from Richard Prebble Keith Locke Peter Dunne and indeed Wayne Mapp which sadly contrasted with the— 
Mark Peck 
: Wayne Mapp? 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: Yes indeed Wayne Mapp. It would perhaps have been better had his leader led off with that speech rather than with the unfortunate rather sad miserable and petty contribution from him— 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: They are serious questions. 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: I say to Mr Mapp that I listened quietly to him for 10 minutes and I ask that he afford me the same dignity. 
A number of members raised important and serious questions that I will endeavour to give some response to in the limited time available. Firstly reference was made to the numbers in the territorial force. Indeed there are issues to address there and they are being addressed. I should point out that the absolute numbers need to be understood against what is called the efficiency level—the percentage of those in the force who are at the required level of training to be deployable. That level is the highest it has been in decades. So although the absolute numbers have reduced the number of efficient members has increased. I am not for a moment disputing that we have a challenge and an issue to address there but it is well on the way to being addressed through a number of measures that are being taken and by others that are being addressed as we speak through the select committee. 
I refer to the matter of attrition. Again 10 or 20 years ago if one went to a Minister and a Chief of Defence Force then yes indeed they would have been talking about problems of recruitment and retention. Ten years from now I am sure they will be doing the same. We have compounded problems at the moment. We have record employment which means there is a more competitive job market. We have the problem that we have always had in the New Zealand Defence Force: we have the very finest people we train them to the highest standard and many of the skills and talents they have are internationally marketable. 
So those issues will always be issues but we have addressed them as a Government in a manner that they have not ever been addressed before. For 3 years and three Budgets in a row we have seen funded pay increases and improved conditions for the members of the Defence Force. It is a bit rich for Mr Mark whose party was a member of a Government during which time his party did not even have a defence policy— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Not true. 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: Mr Mark’s party had no defence policy. It went into an election without one and it was in Government without one. The National Party had one but New Zealand First did not have one. They did nothing and indeed even during that time Mr Worth a member of the National Party at the end of 1999 described the state of the Defence Force as perilously low in capability and short of funds to correct the situation because of what he called 9 years of neglect. That was how Mr Worth described the Defence Force at the end of 9 years of National. 
We are dealing with those issues with major re-equipment upgrades and the developing of depth across all three services. There is a long list of new equipment modernisation and upgrades. Mr Nick Smith does not like it but facts are a bit of a problem for Mr Smith. He has always had difficulty with those. Even our good friend and neighbour Australia in its most recent publications about defence policy acknowledges—as I am sure most of the world acknowledges—that it sees the threats to Australia in the future as being less about conventional threats and more about unconventional threats. I refer to things like terrorism border security and so on. The challenges that Australia and we and others will face are around those issues. 
I also note the comments about a police-led operation. Mr Mapp touched on that as did others. I will come back to it but the police-led operation has been strongly affirmed. 
The Solomon Islands is a nation that is teetering on the edge of State failure. Civil unrest and an ongoing governance crisis have resulted in significant deterioration there both in the standard of living for the Solomon Islands people and in their basic level of security. We have seen a cumulative decline in gross domestic product over a 3-year period to 2002. That decline has been as high as 30 percent. They have a Government debt of about US$230 million. At every level they are in crisis. The public service payroll is erratic at best and operational funding for Government departments is now virtually non-existent. As a result we are seeing a complete decline in basic service delivery or at least it being desperately disrupted. Health and education services the absolute core of any society are severely curtailed and there is a real risk right now that if this situation continues a whole generation of Solomon Islanders will be deprived of a basic education. 
Over and above that there is the failure to exercise expenditure controls within Government which makes it very difficult for donors to provide support at a sufficient level to arrest the decline and indeed to assist the Solomon Islands Government to make fundamental change. If this situation continues it will be dire indeed for the Solomon Islands. 
I want to pick up on the point that as we anticipate the formal request from the sovereign nation of the Solomon Islands a formal governmental request of course New Zealand is sympathetic and it is pleasing to hear every party in the Parliament express support for a New Zealand response to the Solomon Islands. That sympathy of course will be reflected in Cabinet decisions presently. It was good to see yesterday in Sydney Ministers from the Pacific Islands Forum nations gather and again express their collective support for what is importantly going to be I think a Pacific response and a Pacific solution to this dire situation in the economy and social structure of one of our neighbours. 
The breakdown in those social structures in governance and in law and order requires a comprehensive package of assistance not just a civil/police intervention backed by military capability if we are to restore law and order and if we are to empower the institutions of the Solomons so that they can ultimately achieve economic and social recovery. There is clearly a need for that police-led intervention and I want to stress that strongly. It is something that Alexander Downer the Foreign Minister of Australia has said. My colleague Senator Hill the Minister of Defence for Australia at our press conference last Thursday in Canberra also emphasised the same thing. This must be a police—a civil—intervention at that level but of course it will require to the extent that is necessary military support to back it up. It should be seen in those terms: a military capability to back it up to the extent to which it is required to restore civil control and law and order. 
But let us not forget that that civil restoration is all about creating what some have called a security pause so that in effect in parallel those social political governance and economic interventions can happen as well. That may well require integrated packages of assistance from New Zealand Australia and others along aid lines to help stabilise the budget in particular to help with the strategic planning for the future and to get those instruments of State and society back on track. It will need help to enable the criminal justice system to function effectively and cope with an increased caseload as a result of the police and defence interventions. Most of all it will need help to get the health and education systems back on track because without those no society can function. 
So I welcome the support of Parliament. I know that when the time comes to dispatch police and defence personnel we will give them our full support. I want to say finally as the Minster of Defence that any defence personnel who are dispatched will I know go willingly and proudly to represent New Zealand. They will represent us with distinction and I am sure that that can only add to the high reputation that New Zealand has through the efforts of its defence personnel.