You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald from News Talk ZB.

You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald from News Talk ZB.

I never thought I would say what I'm about to say. I never thought I would say what I'm about to say. But then what good is a mind if you can't change today? And that is exactly what I've done. As we've learned more about the New Zealand Navy ship sinking at the weekend, I think we need to see it as a wake up call, not the sinking itself, but what it says about our navy and what it says about our wider defense force. The fact that we're probably going to well the Navy slash the government, the fact that they're going to use probably going to lose a truckload of money because of the ship being underinsured. That's not an issue for me, and I wasn't overly surprised when Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed it to Jack Tame yesterday afternoon. Of us think about it, you can imagine the premiums versus the likelihood of a sinking. Can't you not worth it? So I think the insurance thing is a bit of a red herring. But any of the Navy people I've heard quoted in the news since the weekend, haven't been too shy to say that the loss of the Madawanui is going to be a major blow for our Navy, major blow. And I'm saying today that the Navy's loss needs to be our wake up call and we need to start investing more in our defense force. And the reason I think that is that when you run a military or a defense force, whatever you want to call it, you do it with precision and planning. Well, you need to do it with precision and planning, and you can only do that when you have certainty. And you can only do that when you have the financial backing or the appropriate financial backing to run the outfit with confidence, not run it on a wing and a prayer, as we do at the moment. We're finding out more and more as these things happen it's a wing and a prayer operation. Thing is though, when it comes to government spending, you never hear people demanding more money to be spent on the military.

I never thought I would say what I'm about to say. I never thought I would say what I'm about to say. But then what good is a mind if you can't change today? And that is exactly what I've done. As we've learned more about the New Zealand Navy ship sinking at the weekend, I think we need to see it as a wake up call, not the sinking itself, but what it says about our navy and what it says about our wider defense force. The fact that we're probably going to well the Navy slash the government, the fact that they're going to use probably going to lose a truckload of money because of the ship being underinsured. That's not an issue for me, and I wasn't overly surprised when Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed it to Jack Tame yesterday afternoon. Of us think about it, you can imagine the premiums versus the likelihood of a sinking. Can't you not worth it? So I think the insurance thing is a bit of a red herring. But any of the Navy people I've heard quoted in the news since the weekend, haven't been too shy to say that the loss of the Madawanui is going to be a major blow for our Navy, major blow. And I'm saying today that the Navy's loss needs to be our wake up call and we need to start investing more in our defense force. And the reason I think that is that when you run a military or a defense force, whatever you want to call it, you do it with precision and planning. Well, you need to do it with precision and planning, and you can only do that when you have certainty. And you can only do that when you have the financial backing or the appropriate financial backing to run the outfit with confidence, not run it on a wing and a prayer, as we do at the moment. We're finding out more and more as these things happen it's a wing and a prayer operation. Thing is though, when it comes to government spending, you never hear people demanding more money to be spent on the military.

Dey.

Dey.

You know, people march in the streets demanding more money for health and hospitals, and they demand more money for schools and education. Quite rightly. They demand more money for life saving drugs, all of that. Yeah, absolutely, ticktic tick. But you never hear them demanding more money for the military, do you, except for a few old military types as I'll call them, who you know, I've always sort of been living in the past a bit, you know, money major, you know, reliving the glory days. And you know who can't really get over the fact that the world has moved on, and who don't seem to be able to get over the fact that New Zealand doesn't necessarily the player we used to be on the military front. I'll tell you what. I'm coming around to their way of thinking. I think the time has come where we do need to demand that more money be invested in our military, which I never thought I would hear myself say. But I think that's because I'm like most people in the military. It's kind of out of mind, out of sight, isn't it. And the only time I think about it, maybe you're the same confident you probably are the same. Actually, but the only time I really think about it is when we get things happening, like an air Force plane breaking down on the tarmac somewhere, or like at the weekend, we get a Navy ship sinking, not that that happens every day. By the way I'm understanding this is probably yours as well as at the money. When we were going down after hitting that reef on Sunday was the first time we have lost a Navy ship since World War II. Nevertheless, I think the time has come for some serious soul searching about the future of New Zealand's military force, and not just soul searching, magnificant investment as well, which is kind of happening. Not the investment, but you might have heard Prime Minister Christopher Luxan telling Mike this morning that a major review is on the way.

You know, people march in the streets demanding more money for health and hospitals, and they demand more money for schools and education. Quite rightly. They demand more money for life saving drugs, all of that. Yeah, absolutely, ticktic tick. But you never hear them demanding more money for the military, do you, except for a few old military types as I'll call them, who you know, I've always sort of been living in the past a bit, you know, money major, you know, reliving the glory days. And you know who can't really get over the fact that the world has moved on, and who don't seem to be able to get over the fact that New Zealand doesn't necessarily the player we used to be on the military front. I'll tell you what. I'm coming around to their way of thinking. I think the time has come where we do need to demand that more money be invested in our military, which I never thought I would hear myself say. But I think that's because I'm like most people in the military. It's kind of out of mind, out of sight, isn't it. And the only time I think about it, maybe you're the same confident you probably are the same. Actually, but the only time I really think about it is when we get things happening, like an air Force plane breaking down on the tarmac somewhere, or like at the weekend, we get a Navy ship sinking, not that that happens every day. By the way I'm understanding this is probably yours as well as at the money. When we were going down after hitting that reef on Sunday was the first time we have lost a Navy ship since World War II. Nevertheless, I think the time has come for some serious soul searching about the future of New Zealand's military force, and not just soul searching, magnificant investment as well, which is kind of happening. Not the investment, but you might have heard Prime Minister Christopher Luxan telling Mike this morning that a major review is on the way.

We've got new leaders of the military on all the three forces. We've actually got a new minister with Judith Collins, and a new Secretary of Defense. I've asked that new leadership group to write us a strategy for the next ten to twenty years because I actually want to know that where we're going to add value to our relationships and our partnerships, particularly Australia. So we've got to choose, as a small country, what we're going to be really brilliant and well class at and capability we're going to bring to our alliance partners and choose actually what we're not going to do. And so I want that strategy and that leadership team to come together. That plan will come together probably end of year, early next year. And obviously now with an anticipated loss of this this ship, we need to put that into the consideration of.

We've got new leaders of the military on all the three forces. We've actually got a new minister with Judith Collins, and a new Secretary of Defense. I've asked that new leadership group to write us a strategy for the next ten to twenty years because I actually want to know that where we're going to add value to our relationships and our partnerships, particularly Australia. So we've got to choose, as a small country, what we're going to be really brilliant and well class at and capability we're going to bring to our alliance partners and choose actually what we're not going to do. And so I want that strategy and that leadership team to come together. That plan will come together probably end of year, early next year. And obviously now with an anticipated loss of this this ship, we need to put that into the consideration of.

Which is cool. The broader question, though, the broader question that you and I need to consider, is what we think the future of our military should be and whether we think more needs to go into it, whether we think it needs more investment. And my answer to that question, my answer is yes, we've got no choice. We have no choice. Our planes are not reliable. We're now down a ship. Not to mention, the Navy ships that are sitting idle aren't able to be used. Reason for that being the Navy doesn't have the cruise to run them. People are leaving the Navy for jobs elsewhere. Then you've got the housing provided to our military personnels. It's cruddy, black mold, six soldiers, sick kids. You might remember back in May that was a military advocate who was also married to a soldier. She said her goal was to show New Zealands just how horrendous conditions are for serving military personnel. So you add all that up and you get a defense force that we can either keep running down or we can bite the bullet, excuse pun and we can invest more in the people we and the world relies on to keep the peace. And I say the time has come for us to turn this thing around. The time has come for us to invest more in our defense force, because the whit's going, it's not going to be long before it reaches the point where it's no use to anybody.

Which is cool. The broader question, though, the broader question that you and I need to consider, is what we think the future of our military should be and whether we think more needs to go into it, whether we think it needs more investment. And my answer to that question, my answer is yes, we've got no choice. We have no choice. Our planes are not reliable. We're now down a ship. Not to mention, the Navy ships that are sitting idle aren't able to be used. Reason for that being the Navy doesn't have the cruise to run them. People are leaving the Navy for jobs elsewhere. Then you've got the housing provided to our military personnels. It's cruddy, black mold, six soldiers, sick kids. You might remember back in May that was a military advocate who was also married to a soldier. She said her goal was to show New Zealands just how horrendous conditions are for serving military personnel. So you add all that up and you get a defense force that we can either keep running down or we can bite the bullet, excuse pun and we can invest more in the people we and the world relies on to keep the peace. And I say the time has come for us to turn this thing around. The time has come for us to invest more in our defense force, because the whit's going, it's not going to be long before it reaches the point where it's no use to anybody.

For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, Listen live to news talks It'd be Christchurch from nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio

For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, Listen live to news talks It'd be Christchurch from nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio