Prime Minister Luxon to speak after $2b Defence boost to replace ageing helicopter fleet
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke on Newstalk ZB this morning following a landslide win for the Labor Party in the Australian election, and the New Zealand Government’s announcement it will spend more than $2 billion upgrading defence helicopters.
Luxon was interviewed by Mike Hosking two weeks out from the Budget. It was livestreamed at the top of this article.
Two weeks out from the release of this year’s budget, Luxon joined Defence Minister Judith Collins to reveal yesterday they have earmarked more than $2 billion to buy five new helicopters to replace the country’s ageing fleet.
Meanwhile, Collins also announced a further $957 million in funding as part of broader plans to “rebuild” the country’s Defence Force amid “rapidly” increasing global tensions.
The pre-Budget announcement follows the launch of the long-awaited $12b Defence Capability Plan in April and the Government’s ambitions to boost defence spending to above 2% GDP within eight years.
The current Seasprites were built in the 1960s and 70s – and would reach the end of their service life in the late 2020s, Collins said.
Speaking this morning to Newstalk ZB’s Ryan Bridge, Collins said the announcement was made yesterday to tell Kiwis and those we wish to procure the helicopters from that we “have the money”
“It’s a big announcement, we are very excited about.”
She denied that the business study done by the government was a waste of time and proved that the funding was given to the project without it being fully thought out.
“It’s just the normal processes in Government… it’s important to understand that this is big bucks.”
“We are not announcing without knowing we are able to do it.”
Collins refused to say if pay rises for frontline staff were on the cards with the extra boost in funding, however, she said that they did receive a substantial pay rise last year.
“Every time our people go one deployment, they get a benefit for that… so they want to be out there.”
“It does mean that they will have better places to live in… better investment in their training, more staff, that’s also part of it.”
Collins said we would see more deployments and more action overseas with the boost in funding.
Another $957 million for defence
The $957 million in funding across four years will go towards Defence Force activities – including: