As Rodney Hide points out, Labour's promise to spend $3billion extra on defence over ten years is just empty nonsense. It's apparent they do see such a promise as being something the electorate will like - which is a good thing - but they figure the electorate and the press gallery can't count, which is bad - and sadly true.
The truth is that the Air Force will still need to run a cake stall just to keep its Orions in the air, and shouldn't even think about having enough to get its strike force back.
Basically, Labour's promises are the typically empty blatherings of politicians lapped up by headline-writing journalists short of a critical faculty. And the country still only has an National Anthem to defend us.
Personally, I believe that this country is worth defending, and that doing so is a legitimate task of government. Oddly enough, so do the Libertarianz, and they're quite specific as to what is needed - more specific even than is our present Government. Other opposition parties do at least realise something must be done: Check out what they're promising - National, ACT, and Winston First. Note that conscription has thankfully disappeared from Winston's policy proposal - expect it to reappear however if his poll rise reverses.
3 comments:
Where shall I start on this one - NZ has to have a strategic think about the best way to defend ourselves. Being so small, do we need an Air Force, or should we just have a mobile army? Let's spend $$$$ on frigates and one missile and bye bye frigates. Most of this talk is crapola and the Libs view of strategic alliances is best. I read you links and the ACT one was the worst by a country mile.
"With that funding we could provide a light infantry force, some general-purpose warships and a small air combat force, a maritime surveillance wing and an air transport wing. They could be structured around a stable long-term defensive strategy and would provide successive governments with a range of options in the event of a crisis, here or overseas."
Yeah right. Get your mate Hide to put down the crack-pipe PC.
You know, for a country the size of NZ, the best thing we could do would be to buy a bunch of nuclear warheads & suitable delivery systems.
There's no way we could defend ourselves against a conventional invasion by a country the size of Indonesia or Australia, but we could threaten to reduce their major cities to radioactive glass if they invaded us.
ruth said... Let's spend $$$$ on frigates and one missile and bye bye frigates.
If the frigate is the price of entry into an alliance then it buys alot of fire power.
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