THE LAUNCHING OF TE MANA

WILLIAMSTOWN, AUSTRALIA

Prime Minister The Hon John Howard; Hon Ian McLachlan, Hon Jeff Kennett; Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu; Your Worship the Mayor, Mr Stan Semenoff; Bishop Vercoe; Parliamentary colleagues, Excellencies, distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

We are here today for a serious and solemn purpose - to launch Te Mana, the second of the Royal New Zealand Navy's ANZAC ships.

Just fifteen days ago, on ANZAC Day, New Zealanders and Australians, young and old, commemorated the sacrifice and courage of their forebears in the adversity of war.

Today is about securing that ANZAC legacy.

By investing in our security, we enhance our capability to defend the peace.

Te Mana, in Maori, involves power, authority and status. Mana also concerns the purposeful use of influence and power.

Dame Whina Cooper, a Maori matriarch, once observed that mana involves ``thinking about the people and working for them, all the time.''

Together with her sister ship, Te Kaha, Te Mana will indeed be working for our people, all the time. She, and her crew, will serve in many ways:

as a symbol and enforcer of New Zealand sovereignty over our exclusive economic zone, helping to conserve a sustainable fisheries resource for future generations;

as a platform for delivering aid and assistance in the cyclone-prone Pacific Island region; and

as a rescuer of sailors who have come to grief in the oceans that surround our two countries.
These roles are an important part, but are by no means the whole mission, which successive Governments will place on Te Mana and Te Kaha.

Above all, these are naval vessels and military assets.

As a maritime people, in a predominantly maritime region, we need naval, not just civic, action assets - if we are to effectively protect and promote our interests.

Protection of the nation, its sovereignty and the national interest is a fundamental responsibility of Government.

To that end New Zealand has maintained and will maintain a credible defence force which provides for national security and also makes an appropriate contribution to regional security and international peacekeeping.

In this regard our Closer Defence Relationship with Australia is, of course, a primary consideration.

Officials are currently putting the finishing touches to a new Defence Assessment covering the operational options for New Zealand's defence and strategic interests out to the year 2010.

It is during this period that some of the core assets of the New Zealand Defence Force that have served New Zealanders needs for many years come to the end of their operating life.

My Government's broad intention is to ensure that the equipment decisions which will be taken over the next years will enable the effective capability of the New Zealand Defence Force to be maintained.

There are of course quite a range of alternatives for achieving this, and the sequence of investments over time can vary accordingly.

It is this analysis that will soon come before Government for consideration.

Later this year, following our deliberations, will start to flow the decisions on a significant programme of defence investment.

In coming to these decisions we do have to strike the balance between defence spending on the one hand and the pressing domestic and social spending priorities of Government on the other.

Health and education and spending to make our communities safer are also in a broad sense national security interests for Government, and as such must be taken account of as we prioritise costly expenditure.

We are fortunate to live in an era of regional peace and security.

But we do not know what challenges future generations of New Zealanders and Australians may need to navigate together.

Te Mana, in addition to her civic tasks, will provide the means, should this ever become necessary, to contribute to defending our trade routes, the security of our nation and our neighbours.

She will also ensure that New Zealand has a continuing capability to join with others, in the collective application of international sanctions, peacekeeping and peacemaking.

A blue water country needs a blue water navy.

Te Kaha and Te Mana, when commissioned into service, will lay the foundation of the New Zealand Navy into the 21st century.

They are indeed an investment for the future, whose role and presence will help shape and uphold national and regional security in the years that lie ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know that you will join with me in congratulating the men and women of Transfield, and the hundreds of other companies in both Australia and New Zealand who together have built this magnificent ship.

Te Mana, will, I know, be a fitting tribute to the skill, dedication and hard work of all who have built her and will serve in her.

And now may I introduce Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu to name this ship.

Ends