English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:606;Page:3474] 
2.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: In light of her reported comments that “the chances of a war with Iraq had risen to well above 70 percent” has her Government received any reports assessing the risks to New Zealand Defence Forces deployed to the Gulf? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Acting Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
Hon Bill English 
: In the light of her comments over the weekend that it is appropriate to release information about troops other than the SAS can the New Zealand public expect more information about this deployment regarding the activities of New Zealand military personnel and the risks faced by them since they are stationed near the Iraqi war zone? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Yes. There are two major groups involved. There are the 13 New Zealand Defence Force personnel who are deployed in Iraq as part of the UN inspection teams. There are 35 New Zealand Defence Force personnel further afield in the Sinai desert who may be affected and the direct deployment to the Gulf area—not in the Gulf itself but in the Arabian Sea and up to the Strait of Hormuz—of the frigate. The threat to that of course has always been present given the nature of its present deployment but the assumption is that that threat risk will have to be raised from medium to high in the event of hostilities breaking out in Iraq. 
Helen Duncan 
: What has been done to address the security of other New Zealanders in the Middle East region? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Approximately 2000 New Zealanders are registered with our embassies and consulates in the wider region. They have been advised to consider how they might depart urgently if needed. Additional Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence Force liaison staff are in the region to assist with any increased consular activity. 
Keith Locke 
: In the event of a war would not our frigate in the area in performing tasks such as the Minister has explained—by escorting coalition vessels through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf—be complicit in that war and should we not withdraw our frigate now as an anti-war statement? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: No the frigate is there as part of Operation Enduring Freedom which is— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Who believes that! 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Well the Americans do for a start. The frigate is there as part of Operation Enduring Freedom—the anti-terrorist activity. I think the Americans are quite clear that we are part of that operation not of the operation in Iraq that they are proposing. There is no reason to withdraw the frigate. Much as I admire our armed forces the notion that our rather small frigate is responsible for escorting two or three major aircraft carrier battle groups into the Persian Gulf stretches the imagination somewhat. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: In view of current reports that groups like al-Qaeda are considering using human torpedoes to pose a fresh threat to international shipping how confident can the Minister be that the presence of a New Zealand vessel in the Gulf is not placed at greater risk as a consequence of those new terrorist moves? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: As I said there is already a risk to  
Te Kaha 
. That was clearly taken into account when it was deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom and it seems probable that that risk will need to be upgraded if hostilities do break out. 
Hon Bill English 
: Given that New Zealand has personnel actually in Iraq and that the Government has recently deployed hundreds of navy and air force personnel to the region will the Government give this Parliament the opportunity to express its strong support for our military personnel who have been deployed into a potentially dangerous zone? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: We have had that opportunity over the last week during debates and certainly that was expressed by the Government parties. I did not hear from the Opposition parties support for the actions taken by New Zealand so far.