ACT goes on attack as Defence Force personnel are found to be sniping at pay, dwellings and leadership

When a  Royal New Zealand Air Force C130 Hercules broke down in Vanuatu  this  week   there  was  a certain  irony   in the  event.  It left  Defence Minister Peeni Henare stranded in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, where he had been leading  a delegation of 30 New Zealanders, including officials from the New Zealand Defence Force and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who were in the country for World War II commemorations.

Henare  took  over  the  Defence  portfolio  after  the   2020 election,  but  so  far   he  has  done  little  to  upgrade  the  rundown   state   of  the  country’s  defence   resources.

Whether  his   stranding might serve  as  a  wake-up  call  could  be  monitored   not  just  by   Defence officials   but  by a   wider  public  becoming  alarmed  at  how  defenceless  NZ  has  become,  even  as  threats  in  the  Asia-Pacific  region  become  all too obvious.

This   week  the  ACT  party drew  attention to  how numbers are dropping in the New Zealand Defence Force as personnel are faced with “poor pay, poor dwellings, and poor leadership from the Minister”.