Submission to NZDF review by survey

The NZDF is conducting their review by survey and by written submission. Peace Movement Aotearoa (PMA) has issued a suggested approach to the survey. The approach is not as simple as you might think. The NZDF has constructed their survey on the outrageous assumption that many of the ‘roles’ they refer to are suitable to a combat ready organization when they are not suitable for the NZDF, a combat ready organization. The roles are suited to a dedicated civilian agency properly trained and equipped specifically for each role. Below is the detailed instruction from PMA. Note that I have filled out the survey (now closed) using these suggestions.

The first section has a list of activities – described inaccurately as NZDF roles – including humanitarian assistance, fisheries protection, transporting conservation supplies, disaster relief, hosting government events, search and rescue etc; and asks you to rate “how important you think each is to New Zealand”. The problem with this section is that it does not ask if it is appropriate or necessary to have combat-ready armed forces doing these activities, and indeed – with the exception of combat – all of the other activities listed would be done far better and certainly far more cheaply by civilian agencies that do not require expensive military hardware or combat training.

If you answer “important” to any of these questions, that will be reported as you supporting the NZDF to carry out the activities listed. We therefore recommend that you answer all of the questions in this section with “Not at all important” and use the space with “Please type in your answer/s” at the end to explain that you do not think it is appropriate or necessary for combat-ready armed forces to carry out activities such as humanitarian assistance, fisheries protection, transporting conservation supplies, disaster relief, hosting government events, or search and rescue, which can all be done better and more cheaply by dedicated civilian agencies.

You will then come to a screen with the question “Which of these roles is the Defence Force’s least important role?” which you could either complete by marking one of the “stabilisation and combat” options, or mark “No single least important role”. If, for example, you have marked the “Contributing personnel and equipment to stabilisation and combat operations beyond New Zealand and the South Pacific” as the least important role, you could answer the next question “Why do you think this is the Defence Force’s least important role?” with something along the lines of there are better ways for New Zealand to relate to communities in other parts of the world.

The second section of the survey is focused on questions around “New Zealand’s safety and security situation” over the next ten years. Our recommendation is to fill these questions in wherever possible with comments on the need for action on climate change, social inequality, child poverty, homelessness, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, or whatever it is you see as the most important human security issues. You could also point out that none of these issues can be resolved by combat-ready armed forces, but are rather made worse by military activities and by the constant drain on resources from ever increasing levels of military spending.

We suggest you pick the “Not at all well” options in the questions on the “How ready do you think the Defence Force is to meet the climate change / strategic competition challenges over the next 10 years?”, then answer the  question “What do you think the Defence Force needs to do to get ready to meet the climate change and strategic competition challenges?” by explaining your view that armed forces contribute to climate change, diplomacy is a better option than use of armed force, and you wish to see the NZDF replaced with dedicated civilian agencies, such as: a civilian coastguard for inshore and offshore fisheries and resource protection; specially trained and equipped civilian agencies for humanitarian assistance,  disaster relief, and search and rescue; and more funding for diplomatic efforts.