
'Unreliably' Managed Defence Spending Gets A 25% Funding Boost As Essential Public Services And Pay Equity Are Cut
New Zealanders should be questioning why defence is one of the few areas of government spending that is getting a massive boost in spending.
At $6.1 billion a year*, spending on defence is the 8th largest slice of government spending.
'Total defence spending over the next year will be as much as we will spend on the Police, Justice, the Courts and Conservation combined', said Just Defence spokesperson, Kevin Hackwell.
The Budget includes over $1 billion of new capital investment for Defence, plus an additional $1.6 billion from Budget 2026.
The government plans to increase total defence spending by more than $12 billion over the next 4 years.
'This represents a massive 25% funding increase at a time when other essential public services are being cut and many women are being required to earn less than their male equivalents for similar work.'
'This increased Defence spending is part of the government's 'virtue signalling' to the USA at a time when the United States is proving to be a very erratic and unreliable ally.'
Defence is getting a significant increase in funding just a year after the Auditor General slammed as ' entirely unreliable, ' ** the Defence Force's poor accounting for the public money it is already receiving'.
'Any government agency that can't properly account for its spending should not be getting massive increases at a time when so many well managed essential public services are being cut'.
It is time for New Zealanders to seriously question our high level of spending on defence, and even whether we need a defence force?
Notes:
* Defence Force $5,357 million + Ministry of Defence $496million + GCSB $263 million
** Page 5 of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee's 2022/23 Annual review of the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scoop
an hour ago
- Scoop
Concerns KiwiSaver Is Being Used As ‘Piggy Bank' To Solve Financial Woes
Article – RNZ A growing number of New Zealanders are making hardship withdrawals from their retirement savings. , Money Correspondent KiwiSaver is in danger of being considered a 'piggy bank' to solve all of New Zealanders' financial woes, one provider says, and too many people are tapping into their savings on hardship grounds. Founder of Kōura KiwiSaver scheme Rupert Carlyon was wary of calls for settings to be changed to allow people to use their money to buy farms. He said KiwiSaver was already being called on to solve the country's housing and infrastructure crises. Carlyon said changing the rules to allow more withdrawals sent the wrong message to people, who should be using KiwiSaver for their retirement. Instead, they were tapping into KiwiSaver in growing numbers. In April, 4220 people withdrew savings for financial hardship reasons, up from 3700 in April 2024. They withdrew a combined $37.6 million. 'It encourages more and more people to think about it like a piggybank. It's scary what's happening in that space,' he said. He said he saw people making repeated hardship withdrawals, depleting their balance. 'People come back multiple times with the same claims… it's hard to figure out what's real and what's not.' He said it would now not be possible to close the 'hardship loophole' because people expected it to be available and any change could dent confidence in the scheme. But he said it should be tightened up so there was a limit on the number of withdrawals that could be made within a certain timeframe. 'The other part is it's very resource intensive. We spend on average up to six hours per financial hardship claim… It's hard on staff because they often have to say no when they want to say yes.' A spokesperson for Public Trust, one of the KiwiSaver supervisors, said people were not required to repay hardship withdrawals if it was found they were not necessary. 'Their future self might not thank them for dipping into their retirement savings. We see situations of real and urgent need… there are strict rules and checks in place to help ensure withdrawals are only approved for genuine financial hardship, and applicants need to sign a legal declaration confirming their situation. 'If someone doesn't use funds as intended, it could affect their ability to make another hardship withdrawal in the future.'


Scoop
2 hours ago
- Scoop
Joint Statement On Use Of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) In Retail Settings
Press Release – Joint Media Statement We are firmly of the opinion that FRT, when used fairly and accurately, can be a valuable intervention to help keep customers and employees safe. The undersigned major New Zealand retailers strongly support the use of fair and accurate technology to protect our workers and customers. We support the option for retailers to use Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) to reduce harm and proactively combat retail crime. Our teams face high rates of verbal and physical abuse from repeat offenders who pose a risk to our employees, customers and other visitors to our stores. They are often responsible for significant violence, stock loss or damage. We are firmly of the opinion that FRT, when used fairly and accurately, can be a valuable intervention to help keep customers and employees safe. It is a powerful and effective tool alongside other crime prevention resources such as security guards, fog cannons, staff training, body cameras, panic alarms, CCTV and other technology solutions. We acknowledge Foodstuffs North Island for their leadership in trialling this new technology, and also the oversight provided by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in assessing FRT's suitability for use in New Zealand. The trial clearly showed that the technology made a measurable impact in reducing crime, and improving safety in stores. A survey of 1000 New Zealanders found 89% support the use of FRT if it reduces harm by 10%. Keeping our people safe at work and keeping our customers safe is of paramount importance. A significant proportion of retail crime is committed by repeat offenders. It is these recidivist offenders that we are able to target with FRT. FRT offers the opportunity for us to quickly identify individuals of interest as they enter the store. Staff and/or security personnel are then able to respond quickly and decide how to manage each situation. Intervention is not required for every situation but FRT helps our teams to prevent or de-escalate incidents and offences. We recognise that technology must be used in a fair and accurate way. Guardrails are needed to support customers' privacy, and to guard against potential bias and discrimination. We collectively make a commitment to work with Retail NZ to develop best practice to ensure FRT is used only to keep our people safe, and in line with our obligations under the Privacy Act. The use of FRT in the right settings with the right controls will provide positive benefits and outcomes for customers, retailers and workers, while not impeding on the privacy of New Zealanders. The vast majority of customers will be able to go about their business as usual and will in fact be safer in those stores where FRT is used.


Scoop
2 hours ago
- Scoop
Concerns KiwiSaver Is Being Used As 'Piggy Bank' To Solve Financial Woes
KiwiSaver is in danger of being considered a "piggy bank" to solve all of New Zealanders' financial woes, one provider says, and too many people are tapping into their savings on hardship grounds. Founder of Kōura KiwiSaver scheme Rupert Carlyon was wary of calls for settings to be changed to allow people to use their money to buy farms. He said KiwiSaver was already being called on to solve the country's housing and infrastructure crises. Carlyon said changing the rules to allow more withdrawals sent the wrong message to people, who should be using KiwiSaver for their retirement. Instead, they were tapping into KiwiSaver in growing numbers. In April, 4220 people withdrew savings for financial hardship reasons, up from 3700 in April 2024. They withdrew a combined $37.6 million. "It encourages more and more people to think about it like a piggybank. It's scary what's happening in that space," he said. He said he saw people making repeated hardship withdrawals, depleting their balance. "People come back multiple times with the same claims… it's hard to figure out what's real and what's not." He said it would now not be possible to close the "hardship loophole" because people expected it to be available and any change could dent confidence in the scheme. But he said it should be tightened up so there was a limit on the number of withdrawals that could be made within a certain timeframe. "The other part is it's very resource intensive. We spend on average up to six hours per financial hardship claim... It's hard on staff because they often have to say no when they want to say yes." A spokesperson for Public Trust, one of the KiwiSaver supervisors, said people were not required to repay hardship withdrawals if it was found they were not necessary. "Their future self might not thank them for dipping into their retirement savings. We see situations of real and urgent need… there are strict rules and checks in place to help ensure withdrawals are only approved for genuine financial hardship, and applicants need to sign a legal declaration confirming their situation. "If someone doesn't use funds as intended, it could affect their ability to make another hardship withdrawal in the future."