Amid regional dangers, New Zealand must boost its defences

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reiterated that New Zealand “continues to be a proudly nuclear-free state”. Picture: Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP

There are obvious constraints on what can reasonably be expected of New Zealand, as a small country, when it comes to its defence. But its defence policy review, released on Friday, contained encouraging signs it has finally woken to the significantly changed security environment around it. As its Defence Minister, Andrew Little, said: “Our region is now a strategic theatre, and New Zealand needs a defence posture which reflects this reality.” That does not yet appear, unfortunately, to presage an end to the 1987 ban on nuclear-powered warships entering New Zealand ports, which did so much to diminish its role as part of the ANZUS alliance. Against the backdrop of the AUKUS deal, Labour Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reiterated that New Zealand “continues to be a proudly nuclear-free state. Our position on that is not going to change”.

The defence review said New Zealand’s defence capabilities were “not in a fit state” to meet “more geostrategic challenges than it has had in decades”. Wellington appears to be recognising the reality of China’s aggressive thrust into the region, targeting vulnerable Pacific island states. The review’s language about China is cautious. That is no surprise, given the Labour government’s ties with Beijing, which have won praise from Xi Jinping, but it warns that “an increasingly powerful China is using all its instruments of national power in ways that can pose challenges to existing international rules and norms”. A primary goal of defence posture, it says, must be “preventing states that don’t share New Zealand’s values from establishing a military or paramilitary presence in the region”.

It recommends New Zealand ramp up its readiness for combat by adopting a more “proactive and purposeful” approach to challenges faced by its 15,000-strong defence force. That will be difficult. Three of the New Zealand navy’s nine ships reportedly remain idle (put into “care and custody”, as it is euphemistically termed) because of a failure to find enough crew members willing to serve on them. Plans to build a ship suitable for patrolling the Southern Ocean have been suspended as the country’s two ageing frigates need replacing. It was among the 13 countries that took part in the US-Australia Talisman Sabre exercise in northern Australia.

After years of neglect, the defence budget is 1.37 per cent of GDP, with unattractive pay scales. As a member, with Australia, the US, Britain and Canada, of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing arrangement, New Zealand must do better. Ending the fairytale perceptions of a “relatively benign strategic environment” is a start. Defence should be a central issue in October’s election.