'We're going to need money' Judith Collins on rebuilding our defence force

Tuesday, 30 January 2024

Judith Collins tells Newsable despite cutbacks across the public sector, she’ll “defend Defence”.

With government agencies across the board staring down the barrel of cost cuts and job losses, Defence Minister Judith Collins tells Newsable, Stuff’s daily news podcast, she will be putting forward the case for further investment into the New Zealand Defence Force.

“We will do our best to make sure that we’re not wasting any money whatsoever - but we’re also going to be very clear about the fact that we are going to need money in the future, to be able to rebuild our defence force,” she tells Newsable this morning.

The Ministry of Defence has a 7.5% savings target - as reported in The Post yesterday. According to Treasury if an agency’s staff members have increased by more than 50% since 2017, they are allocated the 7.5% figure.

Other agencies have been asked to find savings of 6.5%.

A week on from announcing a small team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel will be deployed to the Red Sea, the Minister says she will do her best to defend Defence spending - blaming the previous government’s attrition rates for the further investment needs.

“I don’t think the Covid MIQ duty made many people in Defence that happy, and I think people just wondered if this is what they are going to be used for - but I actually think that morale is going to improve.

“There are some areas where we are very much discussing, around the Budget, and obviously we need certain capital items and it’s very important that we get our numbers up.”

When asked if she would push back on the cost cutting requests, the Minister wouldn’t exactly confirm how she’ll attack Budget talks.

“I will very much commit to doing my best to defend Defence,” she tells Newsable, instead.

Judith Collins also discussed the recent NZDF deployment to the Red Sea announcement, and New Zealand’s ongoing commitments to Ukraine and the Pacific.

Listen to the full interview here.

Newsable is Stuff’s daily news podcast, wrapping up what’s worth talking about in a short package every weekday morning. Make sure to like and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.