People here mention it will take something major happening to change the lazy mindset of politicians and voters on defence.I think climate change not just the changing security and political unrest in the Pacific should be at the forefront of this It's the existentential threat we are feeling now
. So surely more tools in the box, i.e. bigger and more ships, planes personell etc shouldn't be a hard sell to Joe public if sold in this way.Droughts,tropical storms and major fires dont just affect our neighbours across the ditch or elsewhere for that matter,its our economy, our people and our homes too.
Yep and I am one of those who does. I've written some of my thoughts on this in a blog and to quote part of it:
"The English language title of the national anthem of New Zealand is "God Defend New Zealand", and the during the recent history of New Zealand from 1991 until today, one could be forgiven thinking God is basically the only one defending New Zealand. Kiwi politicians (pollies) are great on talking the big talk about defence, however when it comes to walking the walk, they are noticeable by their absence and lack of action. Regardless of their party affiliation, when it comes to defence, the vast majority of them have deep pockets and very short arms, combined with myopic vision that only sees votes and no farther than the next election ...
There are four parts to what I call the defence conundrum:
- Politicians.
- Politicians don't care because there is no backlash at the ballot box. They appear to think that defence is a luxury, not a necessity. However the pollies don't think long term and don't look at long term consequences. Their focus is always the ballot box - the next election, and any political debate about defence at election time has been smothered, because both Labour and National have a backroom agreement not to discuss it.
- Public apathy.
- The general public don't really care about defence until something bad happens such as a natural disaster or a war, or every ANZAC Day when they gather in their thousands to honour those who have died in foreign wars and those who have served. However for the other 364 days defence is forgotten, unless a natural disaster occurs and NZDF is at the forefront of relief efforts, or is involved in a SAR (Search & Rescue)."
The other two are Bureaucrats and Treasury which I go into more detail in the blog. I haven't linked it here because I will have to enquire with other Mods about the protocols and if I am allowed to do so.
There is also a
recent article about the loss of strategic control of the South China Sea by the west. The SCS is a strategic SLOC and the first time that the west lost control of it was in 1940 / 41 to Imperial Japan after the fall of France in Europe and Siam becoming a Japanese ally, and now with the PRC fortifying it. Whilst the article talks about the implications for Australia, those same implications are for NZ as well, considering that a significant component of our SLOC transit the SCS.
Whilst there is talk about the US taking the lead in defending the Pacific, compared to the past it appears to be somewhat less robust and as
this article suggests, feeble in its response to Chinas aggression. This means that we have to look more to ourselves and take responsibility for our defence.