Defence force underpaid as major review panel announced
Attrition rates in the military are among the worst the defence force has ever seen in peacetime according to minister of defence Peeni Henare.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, October 17, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Winston Peters takes aim at government's “malignant tinkering”; concerns raised about biosecurity staffing at the border; CNZ accused of cancelling Shakespeare; but first, minister confirms our defence force is underpaid as major review of defence strategy gets underway.
Peeni Henare has confirmed defence force personnel aren’t being paid enough as a major review of defence strategy gets underway (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Fix it
There’s an old Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Kenan Thompson which has become known as the Fix It skit. It feels like a relevant sketch right now as the cry goes out to “fix” everything. Former education minister Steve Maharey said yesterday that next year’s election will be about who can fix things. Current education minister Chris Hipkins has been called Labour’s Mr Fix-it. Wayne Brown won the Auckland mayoralty running on a promise to “fix Auckland”. And now Sir Brian Roche, another “fix-it man”, as described by Stuff’s Thomas Manch, has been called on to lead a major review of New Zealand’s defence strategy.
Defence force personnel aren’t being paid enough
Roche has a long history of public service leadership – he chaired the 2015 Defence White Paper advisory panel and led three reviews of defence procurement. He steps in to lead the panel as personnel leave the defence force in record numbers. Speaking to Q&A’s Jack Tame yesterday, defence minister Peeni Henare said defence force personnel aren’t being paid enough. Henare also discussed the issue of defence force housing not meeting Healthy Homes standards and a sense of frustration and dissatisfaction with military life among some defence force personnel. A recruitment campaign has just been launched aimed at attracting 1200 new recruits.
Henare cites China’s overt movements in the Pacific
The defence review will take two years and was asked for by the government in July. “Strategic competition" in the region, climate change and the pandemic were cited as the reasons why the review was required. As the Herald’s Michael Neilson reports, the terms of reference of the review have blanked out exactly which countries “strategic competition" refers to, but the Ministry of Defence annual report directly references China and the US. On Q&A, Henare was comfortable citing China’s deal with the Solomons Islands as an example of “overt movement” in the Pacific but wouldn't be drawn on whether other actors in the area were causing concern.
Minister doesn’t rule out reintroducing an air combat force
In May, Henare announced that the defence force would receive $662.5m to “maintain existing defence capabilities”. Henare didn’t rule out the need to reinvest in an air force combat wing when asked about it on Q&A. Our air combat force was disbanded in 2001 under the fifth Labour government. Writing for The Conversation, law professor Alexander Gillespie has called the review timely and urgent. Gillespie outlines four areas the review needs to concentrate on including what should be spent on defence. New Zealand currently spends about 1.5% of GDP on defence and as Gillespie writes, the question of how much we should spend on defence is always a difficult one to answer.
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Winston Peters take aim at climate, immigration and Treaty policies
The New Zealand First annual general meeting took place yesterday and party leader Winston Peters took aim at a lot of things. In the firing line was the Treaty, school attendance figures, climate, crime and immigration policies, and the government’s “woke, virtue-signalling madness” and “malignant tinkering”. On the government’s agricultural emissions scheme, Peters said, “Don’t get this wrong: for every cow that we lose, our overseas competitors will replace it with one with a higher carbon footprint.” Known as “emissions leakage”, RNZ’s Hamish Cardwell writes that there’s no certainty of that happening. A recent report from the Climate Change Commission found that globally "there is little evidence that emissions leakage is a material issue in sectors covered by different emissions pricing systems and climate policies". Although the report also states that “because emissions from agriculture have never been priced anywhere in the world, there is no empirical evidence on the risk of agricultural emissions leakage”.
Concerns about biosecurity staffing at our borders uncovered
Our biosecurity systems and border controls are often described as world class. The work of Ministry of Primary Industries staff protects the country from invasive diseases and pests that could devastate the economy, our native species and our natural environment. Newshub’s Michael Morrah reports on emerging concerns about staffing at the border. A chief quarantine officer warned that the key inspection teams have been "gutted", rosters are "not fit for purpose" and workers are facing "burnout". In July, 560 hours of overtime was racked up to "meet deficiencies". A new roster system requires staff to work across multiple sites. Staff surveys obtained by Newshub, reveal criticism of the plan with concern about site specific knowledge being lost and the difficulties of staying competent in multiple areas.
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Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
The battle over Creative New Zealand (CNZ) not funding Shakespeare in schools – through the Shakespeare Globe Centre and its Sheila Winn festival – rages on. Sam Brooks has argued it’s fine not to fund the programme. The Shakespeare Globe Centre has said they will survive the loss of the funding but that CNZ was trying to “cancel” Shakespeare”. Act party leader David Seymour said yesterday that “the board that signed this off will be gone under Act”. Act doesn’t say a lot about arts and culture on its website so it's hard to know if Seymour is advocating for the replacement of all 11 members of the Arts Council who are appointed by the minister or whether Act has another plan for the governance of arts funding in this country. It comes amid a range of arts organisations losing funding including Auckland Pride. Auckland Pride’s creative director Nathan Joe has responded to the decision with an eloquence the Bard himself would admire.
Click and collect
Children's charity Kidscan says the number of children needing food support has risen by 10,000 since Term 1 and 2.
Inside a former MIQ facility as it reopens as a hotel.
Stuff’s Dileepa Fonseka with salient analysis of our shifting immigration policy.
Really good explainer from Cushla Norman at 1News on China’s party congress where Xi Jinping is on the brink of securing a third term in power.
Will Liz Truss still be the UK Prime Minister within the 10-day shelf-life of a lettuce? A live-stream has been set up to test the hypothesis. If you prefer, you can head to the Daily Star’s Instagram and avail yourself of its Liz Truss lettuce filter.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
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Hard sports power: the 2022 Qatar World Cup
The Fifa World Cup will begin in Qatar in November. World Cup chief Nasser Al Khater has spoken out against the tournament becoming a “platform of political statements” amid plans for English captain Harry Kane and other team captains to wear “One Love” armbands during it. Sportswashing claims have plagued the tournament since it was announced Qatar would host. The Guardian’s Barney Ronay argues the term “sportswashing” is redundant and too soft in this context and that this tournament is about military might and hard sports power.
The case for climate change reparations
TVNZ’s Q&A spoke to global sustainability consultant Aimee Christensen yesterday. Christensen weighed in on the issue of agricultural emissions and said industrial countries like Aotearoa are struggling to acknowledge their contributions to historic emissions while the people who have contributed the least to our climate challenge are suffering the most. It was a good reminder to drop this read from The Atlantic on the recent floods in Pakistan and the case for climate-change reparations. Pakistan emits less than 1% of global greenhouse gases. The G20 alone accounts for 75% of global emissions.
