Speech – New Zealand Government

Major General Rhys Jones, Major General James Scholar (USA), Major General Raymond Carpenter (USA), Brigadier Sean Trengrove, Brigadier Anthony Howie, Brigadier Tom O’Brien (UK), Brigadier General Gary O’Brien (CAN), Brigadier Bruce Cook (AUS), Brigadier …

ABCA Army Reserves Conference

Hn Heather Roy, Associate Minister Of Defence

Opening address to the ABCA Army Reserves Conference; Defence House, Wellington; Monday, August 31 2009.

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Major General Rhys Jones, Major General James Scholar (USA), Major General Raymond Carpenter (USA), Brigadier Sean Trengrove, Brigadier Anthony Howie, Brigadier Tom O’Brien (UK), Brigadier General Gary O’Brien (CAN), Brigadier Bruce Cook (AUS), Brigadier Ian Spence, visiting delegates from our ABCA partners, fellow servicemen and women, ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning, and welcome to New Zealand and this ABCA Army Reserves Conference.

Thank you for the invitation to open the conference this morning. The ABCA is one of New Zealand’s most valued Defence relationships. Without a forum such as ABCA, we would all struggle to achieve the degree of inter-operability that is key to success on operations.

The vision of the ABCA Armies programme is a vital one. It is:

“to achieve the effective integration of the capabilities necessary to enable ABCA Armies to conduct the full spectrum of coalition land operations successfully in a Joint environment, now and into the future.”

Strategy, structure and doctrine are essential to the success of any organisation. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the Defence Forces. Consider this:

“So far as we can at present be said to have any organisation, our mistake has been that we attempted to make it in three lines – the first, professional; the second, semi-professional, and the third, purely voluntary. What has been the result? Each has been starved by the others. Our first line is full of gaps; our second line is decadent because it is not possible to find men and money sufficient; and the third line is totally disorganised because the military talent has flowed so largely into the other lines. Instead of having a homogeneous organisation we have got a confused mass of troops coming under these three heads, but with no place in a definite military scheme.”

These are, of course, not my words but those of another politician: Lord Haldane, speaking to the appropriations debate in the UK Parliament in 1907.

Among the raft of quite radical changes to Britain’s Armed Forces that he, as Secretary of State for War, brought into being was the creation of the Territorial Army. The Haldane Reforms, as they were known, are widely acknowledged as being the key to Britain being prepared for World War I. He discussed a ratio of two Territorials to every Regular and was unequivocal about the importance of the TA in linking the Forces with society.

I want to speak frankly this morning: I am very concerned about the state of New Zealand’s Reserve Forces. On paper right now, we have about 1800 soldiers and approximately 400 sailors and airmen. However, when matters of effectiveness are taken into account, it is realistic to consider only about half that number as being available for duty. Compared to other ABCA countries, where Reserves comprise between 25 and 47 percent of total force structure, New Zealand sits well clear at the bottom of the table.

As you will be aware, we are in the midst of a Defence Review in New Zealand. The last review was in 1997 and it is widely acknowledged that this current work is long overdue – for many reasons; not just that 9/11 changed the security environment of the Western World.

Despite this, Defence Review 2009 is timely, and I look forward to closely monitoring the personnel work stream to see what is being considered for our Reserves. Many of you will be aware that a considerable amount of effort has gone into New Zealand’s Army Reserve Transformation Plan but that it is currently on hold pending the Defence White Paper in early 2010. It is absolutely vital that we hold off on making fundamental changes in any part of the Defence Force until after the Review is complete.

I’m proud to be a field engineer in our Army Reserve and it both saddens and frustrates me that the Reserves have been allowed to run down to the point they are now at. In 1990 the NZDF Reserve Forces numbered over 6,200; by 1995 that had dropped to around 4,800 and the decline has continued to today’s figure of about 2,200. In 1990 the TF was an important component of the divisional structure as it was then. The Navy Reserve was crewing four Moa Class patrol vessels.

I don’t want to dwell this morning on how we got to this point but, rather, on how we move forward to having a modern Defence Force – as described by a former CDF who spoke of an organisation that will thrive in a future that can not be predicted, a Defence Force where Regulars and Reserves are willing and able to work hand-in-glove.

This Government has plans to refocus capabilities into the future. Our Reserves have answered every call made of them since the 10 percent guidance for overseas deployment composition was issued in the late 90s. Many have made huge personal sacrifices in relation to family, work and income in order to serve on a full-time basis. Within weeks, it is impossible to tell Regular and Reservist apart. I am very proud of each and every one of them, and their families, and their employers. Together, they make up the three-part team that are the Reserve Forces. I know that the same high standard of commitment and service is true of the Reserve Forces of all the other countries represented here today.

You will appreciate that being a Minister from one of the smaller partners in the National/ACT/Maori Government at the time of a Defence Review makes it a little difficult for me to provide you with definitive statements on what I intend to tackle in turning the New Zealand Reserve Forces around. However, anyone who has read my Party’s National Security policy will have a good sense of my personal goals within the Defence portfolio.

My vision for the NZDF is for a larger and more effective force with every regular serviceperson ready, willing and able to deploy on operations. Regardless of whether the economic recession had occurred or not, I believe that it is appropriate to examine ways of doing better with similar Government funding. This implies, of course, a larger Reserve Force.

What are the impediments to achieving that? I intend to take a few minutes to outline the issues that I see are of most concern.

Governance derives from both legislation and Ministerial warrant. At the moment, we have two Ministers dealing with the Defence portfolio and my delegations include responsibility for the Reserves. However, this is not a permanent split and the Associate Minister’s role could disappear in any Cabinet reshuffle. Other ABCA countries have several Ministers or Under Secretaries covering Defence and usually one specifically for Reserves. I believe this is a good model, perhaps as part of a broader look at traditional portfolio structures within Cabinet.

Logically, a larger Reserve Force with its own unique challenges for raising, training and sustaining across three services implies the need to review current single service headquarters, command and staff arrangements. I am in no doubt about the enormity of the cultural shift that would be required within the Regular Force.

One example of this is the way in which language shapes behaviour, and there is much to change. Last week, I directed that the term ‘Non-Regular Force or NRF’ is to be replaced in all systems and reports. It is simply not appropriate to describe any group by what they are not and I’m sure that there would be plenty of objections to describing regulars as ‘non-reserve forces’. On the plus side, however, there are a lot fewer non-brunette jokes doing the rounds on the internet.

Regardless of whether the Reserve Forces grow or not, the matter of funding for them needs sorting out. You are, no doubt, aware of the challenges in conducting training in the last few months of each training year. I believe that the only sensible solution is to fund Reserve Forces via a specific appropriation so that training funds cannot be re-allocated.

I know that a lot of work has been done to improve transition between Regular and Reserve forces. There is still much more to do to achieve a seamless career path and, as Defence personnel is also my responsibility, I intend to look more closely at this area after the Defence Review.

You may be wondering where the numbers might come from for a larger Reserve Force. Unblocking the current nightmare that is recruiting would be a good start. Reserve units have huge waiting lists but appear to be unable to get candidates processed or trained in a timely fashion.

The easiest way of boosting Reserve numbers is to target Regular servicemen on release. I believe they should actively serve out their reserve contractual liability of up to four years as already happens in many other countries. Depending on turnover, this could bring up to 2,000 reservists per year on board with recent regular experience.

In parallel with the Defence Review, I am leading three companion studies: these address Defence Industry, the role of the NZDF in youth programmes, and Voluntary National Service. The latter study is being conducted by recently retired Brigadier Tim Brewer, who will be known to most of you as the former Director-General of Reserves and Cadets. VNS is a whole-of-Government concept that is similar to the US ‘Learn and Serve’ schemes. If it is implemented, Reserve Force numbers will inevitably benefit. There are also opportunities within the Defence Industry sector for closer ties with the Reserves, and that is another potential source of manpower.

I have no doubt that each of your countries has wrestled with similar challenges and created innovative solutions to them. That is one of the many values of conferences such as this one. Through sharing ideas and building on lessons learned – the stated outcome for this week – we not only move closer to the ABCA vision of integrated capabilities, but help each other to avoid pitfalls that others have stumbled on along the way.

Your programme for the week is certainly a full one and I’m pleased to see that you will also be attending the Chief of Army’s Seminar. I hope you get to see a bit of our country, and that the weather won’t force you to test your commitment to the infantry ethos ‘regardless of season, weather or terrain.’ I would have liked to have observed more of the work you are doing – particularly the country briefs on your respective Reserve Forces. Unfortunately, I am unable to do that as I am visiting some of our troops deployed overseas. I leave tomorrow for the Solomon Islands where our Operation Rata deployment is made up largely of Reserves.

I am looking forward to meeting and talking more with each of you later this morning and at the reception at Parliament tonight.

In the meantime, enjoy your stay and the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones too.

ENDS

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