Defence Review Submissions Released

Hon Heather Roy speech to release the final report of the public consultation phase of Defence Review 2009; HMNZS Wellington, Devonport Naval Base, Devonport, Auckland; Friday, June 11 2010.

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On June 26 last year, Minister of Defence Dr Mapp and I launched the public consultation phase of Defence Review 09 at Te Papa in Wellington.  It is my great pleasure, today, to be back in Wellington to release the final report of that phase of the Defence Review - however, this time, the venue is the Royal New Zealand Navy's newest ship: HMNZS Wellington.

As I have said on many occasions, the first role of Government is to protect its citizens.  The history of this nation is tightly woven with its Armed Forces and all Kiwis have some connection with the Defence Force, past or present, either directly or through families, friends and neighbours.

Our Defence Force capability reflects not just practical requirements, in terms of national security, but also the respect we hold for the sacrifices of our forebears.

I consider the public consultation phase of DR09 to have been a success. The Ministry of Defence produced a quality consultation document from within their own staff resources and also established channels for postal, web, phone and email submission options. This resulted in over 600 submissions from groups and individuals. Public submissions were also heard in 16 locations around the country and attended by more than 250 people.

While there are many differing views on how our Defence capabilities should be configured, I am very heartened to find little dissent within the public submissions, in terms of the need for a strong, agile and balanced force.

The findings from the public consultation will inform Defence Review 09. The projected timeline is for the Secretary of Defence, John McKinnon to submit the Defence Assessment to Cabinet by the end of June this year. The three Companion Studies will follow a month later and the Defence White Paper is scheduled for completion by the end of September 2010.

An undertaking of this scale cannot be achieved without the efforts of many and I wish to acknowledge the staff members at the Ministry of Defence, New Zealand Defence Force and other organisations that have distilled a wide array of submissions into a coherent commentary and produced it in this easy to follow format.

At the consultation launch last year, I handed the first two copies of the public booklet to the President of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association, Air Vice Marshal (rtd) Robin Klitscher and Gina Manning, a university student. Together, they represented the past, present and future links of New Zealand society with its Armed Forces.

Today, I intend to hand over the first copies of this report to the representatives of the group that represent the eyes, ears and voice of the Kiwi public. This group includes New Zealand TV, radio, online and print media who are with me here on the bridge of HMNZS Wellington - a fantastic backdrop for the closing of the last chapter and the opening of the new in terms of New Zealand's Defence Force out to 2035.