Speech to the Royal NZ Air Force Association

National President of the RNZAF Association, Air Vice Marshall Robin Klitscher,
National Secretary, Charles Cooke, Air Vice Marshall Graeme Lintott, distinguished guests and veterans, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for the invitation to again speak at your Annual Conference. And can I congratulate you Robin on your recent election as National President of the RNZRSA.

I would like to acknowledge the veterans present who served our country overseas.

It is important for my generation and those who have followed to remember the sacrifice and the service of two generations of New Zealanders who fought in the First and Second World Wars.

As we commemorated the 90th Anniversary of Passchendaele just a few weeks ago, we were reminded of the appalling losses inflicted on our young country in October 1917 when 2,800 New Zealanders were killed or wounded in the space of little more than 24 hours.

It is hard today to imagine the appalling conditions and the scale of the slaughter on that and other battlefields of the First World War.

Late last year, I was involved in the campaign by the Haane Manahi committee and the Te Arawa people to have the courageous acts of Sergeant Manahi at Takrouna Ridge in Tunisia in the Second World War recognised by the Queen.

Manahi had been nominated by the full chain of command including Kippenberger, Freyberg, Alexander and Montgomery for the Victoria Cross for extraordinary heroism and leadership.

The War Office in London, however, had crossed out the recommendation for the VC and replaced it with a DCM recommendation.

We suspect it was because only weeks earlier Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa Ngarimu had been bestowed a VC for his actions, and a second VC might be overdoing it for the ‘colonials’.

The Palace, for understandable reasons, was unable to change this decision so long after the event. But the Queen graciously agreed to acknowledge Haane Manahi’s courage in other ways, accepted by Manahi’s family and the Te Arawa people.

When we took this issue to the Palace last year, I also raised with the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin, a citation on behalf of another New Zealander involved in a more recent conflict in Afghanistan.

The Palace subsequently accepted the citation for the award of a VC to Corporal Willie Apiata for his conduct when an SAS group was ambushed by Taliban fighters in 2003.

I first met Willie in Afghanistan when the SAS was deployed there and it was a privilege to be at Government House when the VC was bestowed on him and then to witness the welcome home for him at his marae in Te Kaha.

New Zealanders can be proud that the traditions and the courage of past generations of New Zealand servicemen are being upheld in the actions of our defence force personnel today.

Not all of the conflicts New Zealand has been involved in, of course, have had the overwhelming support that the public showed for our commitment in the Second World War.

Our involvement in the conflict in Vietnam was deeply controversial and divided public opinion across New Zealand.

Irrespective of the merits of that war, it was however quite unfair and wrong for blame to fall on the New Zealand military personnel who at the instruction of their government went to Vietnam to serve their country with the same commitment and courage as their forebears had in earlier conflicts.

Vietnam veterans felt shunned and disrespected by their country, their government, the Defence Force and even the Returned Services Association when they came back to New Zealand.

And the acknowledgement of the effect of Agent Orange on the health of some of the veterans was too long in coming.

I was therefore very pleased when late last year I was able with my colleague Rick Barker to negotiate a package of measures which should go a long way to right the wrongs of the past.

I acknowledge the constructive role of the RNZRSA and the Ex-Vietnam Services Association in working with us to devise a set of measures which demonstrate the respect we owe to those veterans and their families, and will provide relevant assistance to those who suffered as a consequence of their service.

Elsewhere in the Defence Portfolio, we have continued the process of modernising and rebuilding the New Zealand Defence Force, following its running down during the 1990s.

Between the Long-Term Development Plan for upgrading and replacing capital equipment and the Defence Sustainability Initiative largely focussed on operational spending, including personnel growth, the Government has committed $7.6 billion of additional spending.

In the Air Force, we are now part way through the major structural upgrade and life-extension of the C-130 Hercules fleet at a cost of over $230 million. Two aircraft are currently in Edmonton, Canada, being upgraded – interestingly this is close to where my father did his pilot training as part of the Empire Air Training Programme in 1943.

The other aircraft will be upgraded in New Zealand.

We have added a new component to that upgrade, a new self-protection system worth around $20 million which will be fitted to all C-130s. This is vital given our deployment to such places as Afghanistan where there are real risks of surface-to-air missile attacks.

Flying across the countryside into Kabul and Bamyan airfields at 250 feet standing in the cockpit of a C-130 has been one of the more exciting aspects of my role, first as Foreign Minister and now as Defence Minister.

So too was the opportunity to parachute off the back ramp of a C-130 over the Waitemata earlier this year, as part of a training exercise by Special Forces personnel.

The P-3 Orion upgrade is also in progress. The mission management, communications, and navigation systems are all being worked on at an expected cost of nearly $350 million.

The two Boeing 757s are being reconfigured to meet our strategic airlift capability requirements with freight capability, engine enhancements and upgraded communications and navigation equipment, at an expected cost of $220 million.

As I mentioned last year, our helicopter fleet will soon be state of the art, with replacements for the ageing Iroquois and Sioux aircraft.

The purchase of eight NH90 helicopters at three quarters of a billion dollars is our largest defence acquisition in recent years.

It will be a cornerstone capability for the Defence Force for the next quarter century.

An NH-90 carries more than double the number of passengers, has twice the range, is a third faster and has a lifting capability nearly five times that of the Iroquois.

Within the next week or so, I will be announcing the replacement for the Sioux training helicopter. The new aircraft will also be a quantum leap forward, with light utility capabilities in counter-terrorism and search and rescue as well as training rather than just the very basic training capability which the Sioux represents.

We will shortly be considering options for advanced pilot training after the expiry of the present B200 King Air lease.

The re-development of Ohakea will also be a very large expenditure project, and will proceed in a staged way over a number of years.

Plans for the re-development of the taxi ways are already in place.

Elsewhere in the Defence Force, Project Protector will have delivered seven new ships to the navy by this time next year, which will be the biggest extension to capacity in the Royal New Zealand Navy’s history.

The new multi-role vessel, the Canterbury, has already been commissioned and for the first time ever gives New Zealand proper sea-lift capabilities.

It can transport a fully equipped infantry company, carries up to four NH90s and a Seasprite helicopter, and will be a huge asset also for disaster relief.

The second of the corvette sized Offshore Patrol Vessels, the Wellington will be launched at Williamstown today.

The Army meanwhile has totally new fleets of Light Armoured Vehicles and Light Operational Vehicles. The Pinzgauers have proven enormously versatile and successful, including the Special Forces variant which has operated in Afghanistan.

It also has new mobile radio equipment, night vision goggles, medium range anti-armour javelin missiles and a cueing and radar directed air defence system.

Major Defence Force capital expenditure on the horizon include the upgrade of the Anzac frigates, the replacement of the Army’s general service vehicle fleet and replacement of the Army’s 91mm mortars and the 105mm artillery howitzers.

Those three major projects alone are expected to cost in the vicinity of $1.5 billion. As you can see the costs of rebuilding the New Zealand Defence Force as a small but highly capable and efficient and well equipped military unit do not come cheaply.

Finally, I would like to say a few words about our current deployments.

Aside from training and deployment of the navy, we currently have over 400 men and women in the New Zealand Defence Force deployed overseas on security and peacekeeping operations.

I commemorated Anzac Day high in the mountains of Afghanistan at Bamyan where our Provincial Reconstruction Team, made up of all the services, continues to do a great job.

It is warmly welcomed by the local Hazara people and it widely regarded by other countries operating in Afghanistan as a model operation of its type.

The situation in Afghanistan particularly in the South and East, continues to be difficult and will require political and development solutions, as well as military, if the international community’s objectives are to be secured.

In Timor Leste, we currently have over 170 personnel including two helicopters from No 3 Squadron.

The situation has calmed there with the successful elections but remains volatile and dependent on the International Security Force, made up of Australian, New Zealand and Portuguese personnel as well as the UN policing operation which also includes 25 New Zealand police officers.

It will be important for East Timorese to develop their defence and police personnel into a capable and reliable force able to take over from the international security personnel. Our Defence Force and Police will need to play a role in that.

In the Solomons, we continue to have the presence of a 43 strong platoon from the Defence Force and up to 35 police officers.

The Regional Assistance Mission in the Solomon Islands was re-endorsed at the Pacific Forum Leaders meeting and was positively reviewed by the Task Force sent there.

It has succeeded in providing stability, security and social and economic progress in the Solomons drawing that country back from the brink of being a failed state.

It also has overwhelming support from the local Solomon Islanders.

It remains a concern, however, that it continues to attract some criticism from within the Solomon Islands Government.

To have one Minister describe it as an ‘occupying force’ when it was invited in by the Solomon Islands Government with the unanimous support of the Solomon’s parliament was unfortunate.

We will continue to seek to work through any outstanding issues with the Solomon Islands Government.

New Zealand Defence Force personnel continue to do good work in removing unexploded ordinance and cluster munitions in the Lebanon, in peacekeeping in the Sinai and Middle East and across the remainder of the 14 areas in which we are currently deployed.

The high operational tempo at which the Defence Force continues to work is good reason for the investment we are currently making in rebuilding personnel numbers, up by more than 450 last year, as well as the equipment modernization programme.

Thank you once again for the service your members have given the Royal New Zealand Air Force, for your continued interest in and support for the New Zealand Defence Force and for your invitation to be with you here today.